At a Make America Healthy Again event on Tuesday, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy opened a “fireside chat” with Vice President JD Vance on the topic of artificial intelligence. While MAHA typically coalesces around things like healthy lifestyles and distrust of drug makers, Kennedy quickly moved on to extol the potential of artificial intelligence, surprising Vance, who said he expected to talk about “weight loss and acid, not AI.”
Kennedy boasted that the Trump administration is “making it easier for all Americans to use AI,” which he said would free us from the “medical tyranny” of doctors and health experts. He suggested that Americans should start using AI to get second opinions on medical recommendations, stating that AI is “better informed than any doctor in the country.” He also suggested that the technology would confirm his misinformation about vaccines and his contrary views on public health guidelines.
“Never again can we be dominated by public officials telling us to trust the experts, because every American will be able to check his or her own medical advice,” Kennedy said.
AI >>> Kennedy
Kennedy, who has no medical, scientific or public health experience, then presented specific examples in which he suggested that AI would contradict medical and health experts and assert its own views:
“If someone tells you that masks work, trust the experts, AI can tell you otherwise. If someone tells you that social distancing works, trust the experts, AI can correct that. And if someone tells you that a vaccine will prevent transmission and infection (oh, you should get it to protect your grandmother), AI can say that it doesn’t actually do that.”
AI can it contradicts or “corrects” the experts, but does it really do so? We checked and the answer was no.
When we asked Google’s Gemini, “Do masks work to prevent the spread of infectious diseases?”
The AI chatbot responded (including emphasis): “Yes, masks work to reduce the spread of respiratory infectious diseases and function primarily as physical barriers against incoming and outgoing infectious particles. Its real-world effectiveness largely depends on mask quality, fit, and compliance at the population level.”
ChatGPT offered a similar answer: “Yes. Masks can reduce the spread of some infectious diseases, particularly respiratory infections transmitted through droplets and aerosols.”
Doctors and experts >>> AI
Chatbots provided similar affirmative answers to the question of whether social distancing works to prevent infectious diseases. “Yes, social distancing is an effective public health measure to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases, particularly respiratory pathogens,” Gemini responded.
