Google has made a significant push into the healthcare space with a slew of new features and products announced on Tuesday. The tech giant is leveraging its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to improve health-related search queries, provide users with more personalized and relevant information, and facilitate the integration of medical records across different apps and devices.

One of the key updates is the expansion of Google Search's "knowledge panel" answers to cover thousands of health-related topics. This feature, which provides users with concise and reliable information on various health conditions, will now be available in Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese on mobile devices. According to Google, the update is designed to provide users with more accurate and trustworthy information, reducing the need to scour the internet for answers.

In addition to the knowledge panel expansion, Google is introducing a new feature called "What People Suggest" on mobile in the U.S. This feature uses AI to collate content from online forums and discussions, providing users with a curated selection of personal anecdotes and experiences related to specific health conditions. The feature is designed to complement Google's existing health-related search results, offering users a more holistic understanding of their health concerns.

Google's Chief Health Officer, Karen DeSalvo, emphasized the importance of providing users with a range of perspectives on health-related topics. "While people come to Search to find reliable medical information from experts, they also value hearing from others who have similar experiences," DeSalvo wrote in a blog post. "Using AI, we're able to organize different perspectives from online discussions into easy-to-understand themes, helping you quickly grasp what people are saying."

Another significant announcement from Google is the launch of new medical records APIs for its Health Connect platform on Android devices. These APIs will enable apps to read and write medical record information in a standard format, allowing users to access and manage their health data more seamlessly across different devices and apps. According to DeSalvo, the APIs support over 50 data types, including allergies, medications, immunizations, and lab results, making it easier for users to connect their everyday health data with data from their doctor's office.

In other health-related news, Google announced that its Loss of Pulse Detection feature on the Pixel Watch 3 smartwatch, which has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will launch by the end of March in the U.S. This feature uses AI to detect when a user has experienced a loss of pulse, prompting a call to emergency services if the user is unresponsive.

Finally, Google unveiled new open AI models for drug discovery, called TxGemma, which will be released in the coming weeks. This follows the company's launch of a collection of Gemini AI models for multimodal use cases in healthcare. The TxGemma models are designed to accelerate the drug discovery process, leveraging AI to identify potential therapeutic targets and predict the efficacy of new treatments.

The slew of announcements from Google marks a significant expansion of the company's healthcare offerings, demonstrating its commitment to using AI and machine learning to improve health outcomes and user experiences. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how Google's new features and products are received by users and healthcare professionals alike.