Setting the language and quality bar for a domain where getting it right actually can mean life or death.
I joined the Gemini Health & Wellness team as it was forming with a mandate to improve Gemini's response quality in a domain where getting the language right has real world impact. The brief was broad: define what good looks like, establish the quality bar, and build the system instructions to get us there.
I defined the content principles and response framework from the ground up, and contributed to the initial evaluation rubric to establish a quality baseline. Early evals told a clear story: Gemini had room to improve in how it collaborates with users and empowers them to move forward with health decisions. Responses were often verbose, perceived as informative and factual, but not always actionable or empowering.
"In health, the line between helpful information and medical advice isn't just a design decision. It's a legal and ethical one. We kept that line in the room for every decision we made."
A significant piece of shipped work was the disclaimer language. This communication needed to draw a clear line between helpful health information and medical advice. While I authored the language, this effort required tight collaboration with legal, clinical, and policy teams to build requirements and language that was accurate, human, and didn't undermine the helpfulness of the response it accompanied.
Results: Disclaimer language shipped across health and wellness responses in Gemini and continues to support users navigating their own health.
In addition to improving general responses, we've been working on some focused experiences as well. This work required new conversation and collaboration patterns and was fun to imagine and create. From early UX research with medical and wellness professionals to iterative eval cycles, the "soon to be launched" experience has steadily improved and is driven by system instructions I've authored and maintained. The work defines how Gemini collaborates with users on fitness goals, how it handles sensitive symptom queries, and how it encourages users to seek professional care when needed. More soon.
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