After Business Insider reported a backlash from employees, Google changed its policy to force employees to use third-party AI health tools.
Google told employees who want health benefits in the new enrollment cycle that they must allow Nayya’s AI tools to access their personal data or they will not be able to receive benefits next year.
The move caught the attention of some employees who raised concerns about sharing personal data with the service. After Business Insider reported on the guidelines and the backlash, Google updated its internal policies to inform employees that they can still receive benefits even if they opt out.
“Our intentions are not reflected in the language on the HR site,” a Google spokesperson told Business Insider after publication. “We made it clear that employees can choose not to share their data with no impact on their benefits enrollment.”
The spokesperson added that no data will be shared with Nayya for employees who have not given consent.
Companies from Meta to Microsoft are increasingly incorporating AI. Add tools to your workshop. Google is also promoting the use of AI to improve employee productivity. Like Google, some companies like Salesforce and Walmart have also rolled out AI-based health benefits tools like Included Health to their employees.
Google’s new guidelines have been published on our internal benefits site. According to internal documents reviewed by Business Insider, the company initially specified that employees seeking health benefits must have access to an AI-based tool provided by Nayya that provides personalized benefit recommendations.
“Because Nayya provides core health plan operational services to optimize the use of your benefits, Alphabet health plan members cannot completely opt out of third-party data sharing (permitted under HIPAA),” reads the guidance previously.
“If you wish to stop sharing your healthcare provider data in the future, please unenroll from benefits offered by Alphabet during open enrollment or when a qualifying family status change occurs,” it continued.
Updated internal guidance, seen by Business Insider, now tells employees that Nayya is optional. For those who still choose to opt in, data such as salary, gender, and Social Security number will be shared with the tool, according to the instructions.
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Nayya, a New York-based healthcare AI startup, lets employees input information about their health and lifestyle and provides recommendations on benefits they can choose from. The company has raised funding from HR software giants Workday, ADP, and Iconiq Capital.
The original policy sparked outrage among some employees this week. Employees posted messages on an internal Q&A site asking why they had to provide potentially sensitive medical data to an external tool to get health coverage.
“Why are we providing medical claims to third-party AI tools with no way to opt out?” Read one of the submitted questions that Business Insider reviewed.
“This is a very dark pattern,” read another post. “I cannot meaningfully consent to my data being shared with this company, and I do not wish to consent in this way.”
Some employees also posted concerns on Google’s internal bulletin board, Memegen. One post reads: “Consent to optional features like ‘Optimize Benefit Usage’ is meaningless when combined with required features like Google’s health plan! The word you’re thinking of is ‘mandatory’.”
A Nayya spokesperson said the tool allows employees who choose to participate to see how much of their deductibles have been met and receive customized plan recommendations. They also said that Google has conducted a standard security and privacy review of Nayya products.
The internal Google FAQ page for Nayya states, “Nayya must protect health data maintained under HIPAA.” Nayya added that it “will not share, rent, sell or otherwise disclose” any personally identifiable information it collects.
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Update: October 8, 2025 — This story has been updated with additional statement from Google. A spokesperson said the company changed the language on its internal site to make it clear that employees can opt out of data sharing.
