Google’s new health coach is already hallucinating

Big things have been happening for Google lately when it comes to fitness. Along with launching the new Fitbit Air screenless tracker, Google introduced a major change to the Fitbit app, turning it into Google Health. A core part of this new experience is designed around Google Health Coach, an AI-powered trainer that provides personalized insights and advice about your health and fitness goals. And based on some early reports, Health Coach is already doing the worst thing it could do.

Ahead 9to5GoogleWill Sattelberg is trying out both the Fitbit Air and the new Google Health app, and almost immediately, the AI ​​health coach starts having hallucinations.

While Sattelberg noted that the Health Coach successfully referenced both the previous night’s sleep data and the workout from the day before, it completely created a 5-mile run that he had never actually done.

It’s not quite the same level of sin as not exercising at all, but Sattelberg also believes that the health coach gave fairly basic, overly verbose advice — such as that length will compensate for quality. He also reports that when pressed on the Phantom Run, the health coach eventually admitted to the fabrication, while simultaneously trying to shift the blame onto him, suggesting that he failed to record the run.

This certainly isn’t the first impression Google wants to get from new Fitbit Air users when activating Health Coach — especially as it’s positioned as a premium service that requires an ongoing subscription fee.

Google Health doesn’t officially start arriving until May 19th, and the Fitbit Air doesn’t hit retail until May 26th, so technically Google still has Little Before all the new Air users start trying it out for themselves, it’s time to take a closer look at Health Coach behind the scenes. Let’s hope the company is at least able to do something to give the group a first impression that’s more based on reality.