US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued at a Make America Healthy Again event that AI could help Americans challenge medical advice and free them from what he called the “tyranny” of doctors and health experts. He said AI was better informed than any doctor and suggested it might support his scepticism about masks, social distancing and vaccines, a claim that matters because people could rely on chatbots for consequential health decisions.

The article tested those claims by asking Google’s Gemini and ChatGPT about masks, distancing and vaccines; both systems said these measures can work, while noting that effectiveness depends on factors such as the disease and vaccine. The answers aligned with expert guidance rather than Kennedy’s examples. The article also cautions that AI is not a substitute for clinicians and can give dangerous health advice, and notes that the event was partly sponsored by AI companies including OpenAI.