Secret AI Code Found in RFK Jr.’s Botched MAHA ‘Science’ Doc
The Trump administration’s health report was rife with errors and cited bogus studies. Experts say artificial intelligence may be to blame.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s error-laden Make America Healthy Again report may have been crafted with the help of artificial intelligence.
Some footnotes in Kennedy’s much-touted report on Americans’ health include URLs with the marker “oaicite,” The Washington Post reported, which indicates the use of OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
The 73-page document cites over 500 works to support its assertions on issues ranging from vaccine safety to the dangers of ultra-processed foods, but a NOTUS report found that many of its citations misrepresented existing research or referenced studies that do not exist.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked Thursday if AI was used to "put together" the report. “I can’t speak to that. I’d defer you to the Department of Health and Human Services,” she said.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington professor who studies AI, told the Post that he was shocked by the sloppiness of the MAHA report.
“Frankly, that’s shoddy work,” Etzioni said. “We deserve better.”
The White House has scrambled to revise the report since NOTUS published its findings Thursday, fixing broken links and deleting one of the “oaicite” markers, according to the Post.
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged “some formatting issues” with the report but maintained that they “do not negate the substance of the report” during her briefing Thursday.
She did not say whether the report was generated by AI, referring questions on the matter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
After the Daily Beast inquired whether any part of the MAHA report was created or edited using AI tools, HHS Deputy Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard said in a statement: “Minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected, but the substance of the MAHA report remains the same—a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary Kennedy, our federal government is no longer ignoring this crisis, and it’s time for the media to also focus on what matters,” she added.
But Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, said the flawed references in the report undermine its credibility.
“It should be junked at this point,” he told the 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.”
President Donald Trump established the “Make America Healthy Again Commission” with an executive order in February.
Evelyn Hockstein/REUTERS
Published on May 22, the document was written by a commission of Trump Cabinet officials and government scientific leaders to address a rise in chronic diseases among American children. However, Kennedy—an anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer—has refused to name specific authors.
The report, which calls for a reevaluation of the childhood vaccine schedule and claims that American children are overmedicated and undernourished, is intended to inform policy recommendations to be released later this year.
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