Google's 'AI Overviews' Cite YouTube For Health Queries More Than Any Medical Sites, Study Suggests (theguardian.com)
(Sunday January 25, 2026 @03:44AM (EditorDavid)
from the I'm-feeling-lucky dept.)
- Reference: 0180651696
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/25/0043256/googles-ai-overviews-cite-youtube-for-health-queries-more-than-any-medical-sites-study-suggests
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/24/google-ai-overviews-youtube-medical-citations-study
An anonymous reader shared [1]this report from the Guardian :
> Google's search feature AI Overviews cites YouTube more than any medical website when answering queries about health conditions, according to research that [2]raises fresh questions about a tool seen by 2 billion people each month.
>
> The company has said its AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results and use generative AI to answer questions from users, are "reliable" and cite reputable medical sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mayo Clinic. However, a study that analysed responses to more than 50,000 health queries, captured using Google searches from Berlin, found the top cited source was YouTube. The video-sharing platform is the world's second most visited website, after Google itself, and is owned by Google. Researchers at SE Ranking, a search engine optimisation platform, found YouTube made up 4.43% of all AI Overview citations. No hospital network, government health portal, medical association or academic institution came close to that number, they said. "This matters because YouTube is not a medical publisher," [3]the researchers wrote . "It is a general-purpose video platform...."
>
> In one case that experts said was "dangerous" and "alarming", Google provided bogus information about crucial liver function tests that could have left people with serious liver disease wrongly thinking they were healthy. The company later [4]removed AI Overviews for some but not all medical searches... Hannah van Kolfschooten, a researcher specialising in AI, health and law at the University of Basel who was not involved with the research, said: "This study provides empirical evidence that the risks posed by AI Overviews for health are structural, not anecdotal. It becomes difficult for Google to argue that misleading or harmful health outputs are rare cases.
>
> "Instead, the findings show that these risks are embedded in the way AI Overviews are designed. In particular, the heavy reliance on YouTube rather than on public health authorities or medical institutions suggests that visibility and popularity, rather than medical reliability, is the central driver for health knowledge."
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/24/google-ai-overviews-youtube-medical-citations-study
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/jan/24/how-the-confident-authority-of-google-ai-overviews-is-putting-public-health-at-risk
[3] https://seranking.com/blog/health-ai-overviews-youtube-vs-medical-sites/
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/11/google-ai-overviews-health-guardian-investigation
> Google's search feature AI Overviews cites YouTube more than any medical website when answering queries about health conditions, according to research that [2]raises fresh questions about a tool seen by 2 billion people each month.
>
> The company has said its AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results and use generative AI to answer questions from users, are "reliable" and cite reputable medical sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mayo Clinic. However, a study that analysed responses to more than 50,000 health queries, captured using Google searches from Berlin, found the top cited source was YouTube. The video-sharing platform is the world's second most visited website, after Google itself, and is owned by Google. Researchers at SE Ranking, a search engine optimisation platform, found YouTube made up 4.43% of all AI Overview citations. No hospital network, government health portal, medical association or academic institution came close to that number, they said. "This matters because YouTube is not a medical publisher," [3]the researchers wrote . "It is a general-purpose video platform...."
>
> In one case that experts said was "dangerous" and "alarming", Google provided bogus information about crucial liver function tests that could have left people with serious liver disease wrongly thinking they were healthy. The company later [4]removed AI Overviews for some but not all medical searches... Hannah van Kolfschooten, a researcher specialising in AI, health and law at the University of Basel who was not involved with the research, said: "This study provides empirical evidence that the risks posed by AI Overviews for health are structural, not anecdotal. It becomes difficult for Google to argue that misleading or harmful health outputs are rare cases.
>
> "Instead, the findings show that these risks are embedded in the way AI Overviews are designed. In particular, the heavy reliance on YouTube rather than on public health authorities or medical institutions suggests that visibility and popularity, rather than medical reliability, is the central driver for health knowledge."
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/24/google-ai-overviews-youtube-medical-citations-study
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/jan/24/how-the-confident-authority-of-google-ai-overviews-is-putting-public-health-at-risk
[3] https://seranking.com/blog/health-ai-overviews-youtube-vs-medical-sites/
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/11/google-ai-overviews-health-guardian-investigation
It worked for me (Score:2)
by JoeyRox ( 2711699 )
YouTube got my diabetes under control by recommending bukkake videos.
Re: (Score:2)
by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 )
Which youtube site are you using, xhamster or xvideos?
Re: It worked for me (Score:2)
by getuid() ( 1305889 )
Or the one with the name being an adjective that describes the state of having no mother?
Re: (Score:2)
by thegarbz ( 1787294 )
How does a skincare routine solved diabetes? I'd understand gokkun videos though admittedly the thought of it can leave a bad taste in the mouth, but a topical ointment application to solve diabetes would revolutionise the industry.
Re: It worked for me (Score:2)
by getuid() ( 1305889 )
Easy: you need to eat the skin care products, which are high fat. And at the same time drastically cut down on carbs... voila, a keto diet! :-D
"reputable medical sources" (Score:2)
by fafalone ( 633739 )
The CDC is no longer a reputable source thanks to the germ-theory and vaccine denier currently impersonating a public health official. Another job well done destroying America's leadership, conservatives.
Google's Youtube Promotes Medical Quack Ads (Score:2)
Seen any ads on Youtube? Aside from the ads stating that their husband F##ked them for hours, you may see videos that promote stopping diabetes medication. You will see ads promoting pink-salt for cures for many things. So, why would anyone trust google. Google is a search engine, an advertisement company, and has a video company, so I don't think they should be trusted for medical anything. I also don't think they should be providing explicit ads for children.
Re: (Score:2)
> Google is a search engine, an advertisement company, and has a video company, so I don't think they should be trusted for medical anything.
This. Google owns search and Youtube. It's hardly surprising that their search site recommends their video site. What is surprising, and concerning, is that people give them any credibility.
Re: (Score:2)
> Seen any ads on Youtube?
Not once, but I hear about them all the time. How do people manage to see them is a mystery.
Re: (Score:2)
That you don't own a phone is a mystery. Blocking Youtube ads on a phone requires patching and installing no less than 2 different background services to run on an Android device, and simply isn't possible on iPhone. Unless you watch Youtube in a browser on a phone in which case there's probably something medically wrong with you if you put yourself through that kind of UI misery.