PIF to call on Government to improve regulation of AI for health
With the rise of AI summaries for health information and the introduction of AI mode in Google, health charities have raised concerns about access to trustworthy information. For the past year, we have been researching the impact of AI-generated search results on the health sector. Almost 5 in 10 of our members have seen inaccuracies or misinformation about their topic area in AI overviews.
Members have also raised concerns about the accuracy of generative engines. For example, The Eve Appeal ran test scenarios using ChatGPT. Users posed as patients with key symptoms of the five gynae cancers. Its testing found ChatGPT missed symptoms of gynaecological cancers and gave inaccurate or outdated information and inappropriate medical advice. Read more about the Eve Appeal's concerns here.
Healthcare professionals are seeing the impact of AI misinformation. According to the Philips 2026 Future Health Index – Global report, 7 out of 10 of clinicians say they have had to correct AI-generated misinformation. The ABPI has reported that 8 out of 10 GPs see patients every week with misinformation.
How this is affecting our members
More than 6 out of 10 health charities have observed a decline in traffic to their websites since the rollout of health summaries. This raises concerns that the public is not accessing source information and could be missing out on vital additional professional support and context when it is most needed.
A German court has now ruled that Google is liable for false statements generated by its AI Overviews feature, treating the AI’s responses as Google’s own words. And Google itself has called for US authorities to "build an independent regulatory organisation for frontier AI with government oversight".
That is why we urge the UK Government to lead the development of a UK-wide framework for safe AI-generated health information, ensuring that people are directed to trusted, evidence-based sources when seeking health advice online.
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