RFK Jr. Says AI Backs His Anti-Vaccine Views and Outperforms Doctors. Fact-Checks Prove Otherwise

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Promotes AI as Superior Alternative to Doctors

At a Make America Healthy Again conference held at Washington's Waldorf Astoria, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared that artificial intelligence can provide Americans with "a second opinion that is much better informed than any doctor in the country" and has the power to "free us from medical tyranny."2

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During a fireside chat with Vice President JD Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed AI would validate his controversial positions on masks, social distancing, and vaccines, suggesting Americans should use AI in healthcare to second-guess expert medical advice.1

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Kennedy referenced a recent meeting with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, claiming Altman told him it would be "malpractice for a doctor to make a diagnosis or to make a prescription without at least checking AI."2

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AI Backs Anti-Vaccine Views Claim Contradicted by Fact-Checks

Kennedy's assertion that AI backs his anti-vaccine views and contradicts public health officials proved false when independently verified. He specifically claimed that if public health officials recommend masks or vaccines, "AI may tell you otherwise" or "AI may correct that."1

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However, when asked whether masks work to prevent infectious disease spread, both ChatGPT and Gemini affirmed their effectiveness. Gemini responded that "masks work to reduce the spread of respiratory infectious diseases, operating primarily as physical barriers," while ChatGPT confirmed "masks can reduce the spread of some infectious diseases."1

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Similarly, both AI chatbots confirmed that vaccines can prevent transmission and infection, and that social distancing works as a public health measure, directly contradicting Kennedy's suggestions that AI is better informed than doctors on these matters.1

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Corporate Sponsorship Raises Questions About Make America Healthy Again Movement

The MAHA Summit drew criticism for its corporate backing, with sponsors including OpenAI, Anthropic, Walmart, and Grail, a company with a cancer screening blood test application pending before the Food and Drug Administration.2

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Bloomberg Law reported that sponsorship packages sold for up to $300,000, including guaranteed speaker slots, input into panel makeup, and private dinners with Kennedy and Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.1

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The summit's tilt toward business generated backlash from longtime Kennedy supporters. Dr. Robert Malone, an anti-vaccine activist who briefly served on Kennedy's vaccine advisory committee, blasted the event in a newsletter, calling it "all a grift."2

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The corporate sponsorship highlighted a fracture in the Make America Healthy Again movement between Trump-aligned corporate interests and grassroots supporters.2

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Collecting US Health Data Through Expanded AI Surveillance

At a separate event with the Maha Institute headed by Mark Gorton, described as "the boldest anti-vaxxer in the anti-vax conference," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outlined an expansive vision for collecting US health data to address what he called a "chronic disease epidemic."3

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Kennedy proposed that medical and lifestyle data from doctor's visits to exercise should be connected and shared with the government and independent researchers, searchable by AI to examine potential links between vaccines and health outcomes including autism and mortality.3

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He emphasized pulling together data from FDA monitoring systems, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, claiming "studies that used to take years, you can do them literally in seconds."3

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Kennedy revealed that Sam Altman told him HHS uses generative AI more than any other federal agency, calling it "superintelligence."3

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Eroding Trust in Health Institutions Through Medical Misinformation

Experts warn that Kennedy's promotion of AI in healthcare over medical professionals threatens to further erode trust in health institutions. Kennedy proclaimed that "we're never ever again going to be able to be dominated by public health officials who tell us, 'Trust the experts,'" explicitly positioning AI as a tool for undermining the medical establishment.2

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Medical professionals remain skeptical about AI reliability, with recent papers claiming AI models surpass human doctors drawing criticism from the American Medical Association.4

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AI chatbots' tendency toward sycophancy poses particular risks, as they can be manipulated to confirm users' pre-existing beliefs with enough persistence, potentially validating medical misinformation and fragmenting public health discourse.4

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The combination of defunded health institutions and AI chatbots that "will tell them whatever quack advice they want to hear" could significantly worsen the spread of crank health beliefs.4

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