By Andrew Gregory
Publication Date: 2026-02-20 06:00:00
A Mind has launched a year-long commission to examine AI and mental health after a Guardian investigation revealed how Google’s AI overviews, shown to two billion people every month, gave people “very dangerous” mental health advice.
Here, Rosie Weatherley, information content manager at the largest mental health charity in England and Wales, describes the risks posed to people by the AI-generated summaries that appear above search results on the world’s most visited website.
“For three decades, Google has developed and delivered a search engine that has enabled credible and accessible health content to rise to the top of results.
“Searching for information online wasn’t perfect, but it worked well for the most part. Users had a good chance of getting to a credible health website that answered their query.
“AI Overviews has replaced this richness with a clinical-sounding summary that gives the impression of finality.
“It’s a very tempting exchange, but not…