Google AI and Stem Cells: California Researcher Tests the AI Results, Says They Fail

Excessive reliance on misinformation from unregulated clinics cited

Knoepfler has long campaigned against dubious stem cell clinics that many say peddle snake oil treatments.

Google’s new AI overviews on stem cell matters are using information from dubious, unregulated stem cell clinics and are “sometimes spectacularly bad,” a California stem cell researcher said this week. 

“Google AI overviews on stem cells are a bust so far & endanger public health,” declared the headline on an article by Paul Knoepfler of UC Davis.

Knoepfler has long sounded the alarm about the spread of misinformation from clinics that peddle what they call stem cell treatments as effective and safe therapies for everything from knee pain to spinal injuries. 

Writing on his blog, The Niche, Knoepfler said he recently performed 10 searches using Google AI overviews, which summarize search findings. Only one overview was good, he wrote. 

“Unfortunately, it seems even worse than I anticipated,” Knoepfler wrote. He gave specific examples from three searches using the terms “stem cells cerebral palsy,” “stem cell knees” and “stem cells COPD.”