Jul 7, 2025 08:38 PM
"We need to stop trusting the experts," Kennedy told Tucker Carlson
https://gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-says-ai-will-...2000622778
INTRO: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on the latest episode of Tucker Carlson’s podcast on Monday and it’s filled with the ramblings of a man completely detached from reality. Kennedy falsely suggested vaccines cause autism, more or less endorsed the idea that Anthony Fauci should go to prison, and says that AI will allow the FDA to approve new drugs very quickly. It’s quite a mess.
These absolutely unhinged ideas wouldn’t be such a problem if this were any other fringe lunatic appearing on the podcast of a racist former Fox News host. But Kennedy happens to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a man who’s been given enormous power over America’s entire healthcare system thanks to President Donald Trump.
One of the most troubling moments in the new interview comes when Kennedy discusses the role that artificial intelligence is going to play in replacing or altering the VAERS system, which stands for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. VAERS allows doctors to report incidents when they believe a patient has been harmed by vaccines, but Kennedy isn’t happy with it. The secretary insists it was “designed to fail,” suggesting it’s not registering enough people who in his mind have been harmed by vaccines over the years.
“We’re going to absolutely change VAERS and we’re going to make it, we’re going to create either within VAERS or supplementary to VAERS, a system that actually works,” Kennedy said. “And, you know, right now, even that system is antiquated because we have access to AI.”
Kennedy told Carlson he was creating an “AI revolution” at the Department of Health and Human Services and was attracting the top people from Silicon Valley who “walked away from billion dollar businesses.” But Kennedy says these people don’t want prestige or power, they just want to make the healthcare system better.
“We are at the cutting edge of AI,” Kennedy said. “We’re implementing it in all of our departments. At FDA, we’re accelerating drug approvals so that you don’t need to use primates or even animal models. You can do the drug approvals very, very quickly with AI.”
Kennedy has previously talked about using AI to increase efficiency at FDA but hasn’t provided details about what AI tools will be used and how they would be used to approve new drugs. But given generative AI’s instability and propensity for failing at some of the most basic tasks, the idea of putting drug approvals in the hands of robots is pretty terrifying... (MORE - details)
https://gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-says-ai-will-...2000622778
INTRO: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on the latest episode of Tucker Carlson’s podcast on Monday and it’s filled with the ramblings of a man completely detached from reality. Kennedy falsely suggested vaccines cause autism, more or less endorsed the idea that Anthony Fauci should go to prison, and says that AI will allow the FDA to approve new drugs very quickly. It’s quite a mess.
These absolutely unhinged ideas wouldn’t be such a problem if this were any other fringe lunatic appearing on the podcast of a racist former Fox News host. But Kennedy happens to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a man who’s been given enormous power over America’s entire healthcare system thanks to President Donald Trump.
One of the most troubling moments in the new interview comes when Kennedy discusses the role that artificial intelligence is going to play in replacing or altering the VAERS system, which stands for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. VAERS allows doctors to report incidents when they believe a patient has been harmed by vaccines, but Kennedy isn’t happy with it. The secretary insists it was “designed to fail,” suggesting it’s not registering enough people who in his mind have been harmed by vaccines over the years.
“We’re going to absolutely change VAERS and we’re going to make it, we’re going to create either within VAERS or supplementary to VAERS, a system that actually works,” Kennedy said. “And, you know, right now, even that system is antiquated because we have access to AI.”
Kennedy told Carlson he was creating an “AI revolution” at the Department of Health and Human Services and was attracting the top people from Silicon Valley who “walked away from billion dollar businesses.” But Kennedy says these people don’t want prestige or power, they just want to make the healthcare system better.
“We are at the cutting edge of AI,” Kennedy said. “We’re implementing it in all of our departments. At FDA, we’re accelerating drug approvals so that you don’t need to use primates or even animal models. You can do the drug approvals very, very quickly with AI.”
Kennedy has previously talked about using AI to increase efficiency at FDA but hasn’t provided details about what AI tools will be used and how they would be used to approve new drugs. But given generative AI’s instability and propensity for failing at some of the most basic tasks, the idea of putting drug approvals in the hands of robots is pretty terrifying... (MORE - details)