Google is testing an AI program called Med-PaLM 2, trained to expertly answer medical questions, as it races against rivals like Microsoft to translate recent AI advances into products for clinicians.

The program, which has been fed questions and answers from medical licensing exams, is designed to be better at holding conversations on healthcare issues than more general-purpose algorithms. It can generate responses to medical questions, summarize documents, and organize health data.

However, there are concerns about the accuracy and relevance of its responses and the need for further development and testing before it can be used in patient care. Google's rivals, including Microsoft, are also incorporating AI advances into patient interactions and exploring the potential of building virtual assistants to answer medical questions from patients worldwide.