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 revolves around topics like healthy lifestyles and distrust of drugmakers, Kennedy quickly pivoted to praising the potential of artificial intelligence, surprising Vance, who said he expected to discuss “weight loss and acid, not AI.”
Kennedy boasted that the Trump administration was “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 a second opinion on medical recommendations, saying that AI is “better informed than any doctor in the country.” He also suggested the technology would confirm his misinformation about vaccines and his contrarian views on public health guidelines.
“We can never again be dominated by public officials who tell us to trust the experts, because every American will be able to verify their own medical advice,” Kennedy said.
AI >>> Kennedy
Kennedy, who has no medical, scientific, or public health background, then presented specific examples in which he suggested that AI would contradict medical and health experts and justify his own views:
“If someone tells you that masks work, trust the experts, the AI can tell you otherwise. If someone tells you that social distancing works, trust the experts, the AI can correct that. And if someone tells you that a vaccine will prevent transmission and infection – oh, you have to take it to protect your grandmother – the AI can say that actually it won’t.”
AI can contradict or “correct” the experts, but is that really the case? We checked: the answer was no.
When we asked Google’s Gemini: “Are masks effective in preventing the spread of infectious diseases?” »
The AI chatbot responded (including its emphasis): “Yes, masks help reduce the spread of infectious respiratory diseases, functioning primarily as physical barriers against outgoing and incoming infectious particles. Their effectiveness in the real world depends heavily on the quality of the masks, their fit and their adherence at the population level.
ChatGPT offered a similar answer: “Yes. Masks can reduce the spread of certain infectious diseases, particularly respiratory infections transmitted by droplets and aerosols.”
Doctors and experts >>> AI
Chatbots have provided similar affirmative answers to the question of whether social distancing helps prevent infectious diseases. “Yes, social distancing is an effective public health measure to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases, particularly respiratory pathogens,” Gemini responded.
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