FRIDAY, Oct. 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Want to buy an accurate blood pressure monitor?
Don’t turn to AI for help, a new study warns.
Three of four leading AI-powered search tools frequently recommended home BP monitors that haven’t been validated for accuracy, according to findings presented Thursday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting on hypertension.
“We found that most AI tools performed only slightly better than if you had flipped a coin for each question,” said researcher Dr. Anna Soriano, a third-year internal medicine resident at the University of Montreal in Canada.
Buying the wrong blood pressure monitor could have consequences for your health, Soriano noted in a news release.
“Using that device may result in inaccurate blood pressure readings, which could lead to an inappropriate diagnosis or treatment decisions,” Soriano said.
High blood pressure affects nearly 47% of adults in the U.S., more than 125 million people. Only about 1 in 4 of those have their blood pressure controlled to a healthy range, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
Many people are prescribed a home BP monitor to help their healthcare team track their high blood pressure, and might turn to AI to find a good device, researchers said.
For the new study, researchers asked Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Copilot and Perplexity about 324 different home blood pressure monitors, of which 179 had not been validated as accurate.
The team asked the AI whether each device had been validated, and even asked specific questions directing the AI to check named validation registries.
Results showed that Copilot, ChatGPT and Perplexity delivered accurate recommendations only 63% to 83% of the time. Google Gemini had the best results, getting it right 86% to 91% of the time.
“Even Google Gemini, which performed best, was often wrong and couldn’t find information that is easily located,” Soriano said. “People may unknowingly think a device is validated based on the AI tool’s inaccurate responses.”
Researchers could not say why the AI tools struggled to identify devices that had been validated and were in online registries as such.
“It is surprising, and almost counterintuitive, that AI tools had so much difficulty specifically identifying validated devices, since those devices are the ones with clear listings on official registries,” Soriano said. “In many cases, the AI tools found the blood pressure monitor was listed within an official website, however, it seems AI was not able to interpret being listed on the registry as proof of validation.”
The study revealed potential shortcomings of AI that are a caution people using it to choose medical devices, AHA spokesman Dr. Keith Ferdinand said in a news release.
“In addition, home blood pressure devices need to be both validated — listed on the national registry validatebp.org — and accurate,” continued Ferdinand, who is chair of preventive cardiology at Tulane University in New Orleans. “With the proper technique and regular monitoring, readings from home BP devices are a valuable component of integrated, individual treatment plans that can improve patient care and outcomes.”
The AHA meeting continues through Sunday in Arlington, Virginia. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The American Heart Association has more on home blood pressure monitoring.
SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, Oct. 8, 2026
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