Artificial intelligence researchers claim there’s “definitive” proof that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team used AI to write his “Make America Healthy Again” report.
Kennedy’s report projected a new vision for America’s health policy that would take aim at childhood vaccines, ultra-processed foods, and pesticides. But a NOTUS investigation published Thursday found seven studies referenced in Kennedy’s 68-page report that the listed study authors said were either wildly misinterpreted or never occurred at all—and researchers believe that AI could be partly to blame.
Some of the 522 scientific references in the report include the phrase “OAIcite” in their URLs—a marker indicating the use of OpenAI.
“This is not an evidence-based report, and for all practical purposes, it should be junked at this point,” Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told The Washington Post. “It cannot be used for any policymaking. It cannot even be used for any serious discussion, because you can’t believe what’s in it.”
AI researcher Oren Etzioni, a professor emeritus at the University of Washington, felt similarly, referring to the report as “shoddy work.”
“We deserve better,” Etzioni told the Post.
During a White House press briefing Thursday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged direct questioning as to whether or not Kennedy’s department had leaned on AI to draft the report.
“I can’t speak to that, I’d defer you to the Department of Health and Human Services,” Leavitt said while lauding the Kennedy report as one of the most “transformative reports ever released by the federal government.” Leavitt added that the “MAHA report” was backed by “good science” that had “never been recognized” at the national level.
But what the administration will likely brush off as a temporary flub actually sets a horrifically dangerous precedent for the government, as it starts the slow encroachment of unvetted and unverified AI usage to form the basis of America’s public health policy.
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