A flu forecasting model built with Google AI was the best at forecasting flu-related hospital admissions during the 2025-26 season, the Centers for Disease Control announced this week.
From October through May, the CDC’s FluSight combines weekly submissions from government, industry, and academic teams predicting U.S. hospital admissions for the current week and three weeks into the future. The CDC uses the combined forecast each week to communicate the anticipated state-level demand for medical services.
The end-of-season analysis published this week shows that of 39 eligible models, Google’s best matched the season’s observed hospital admissions. This performance validates our confidence that AI combined with human ingenuity will improve our ability to forecast diseases worldwide.
Google forecasts were developed using Empirical Research Assistance, an AI tool that generates optimization algorithms across a range of scientific fields. Research on ERA was recently published in the journal “Nature.” ERA’s underlying technology is now available to trusted testers as part of our experimental science tools.