At the September 29, 2026 MAHA Summit, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said AI could offer a second opinion “much better informed than any doctor in the country.” That is a sweeping claim about a possible use of AI—not evidence that AI is better than doctors at providing medical care overall. Medical societies warned that such framing could undermine trust in physicians, but no cited evidence measures a trust decline caused by Kennedy’s remarks.
What Kennedy said—and what it does not establish
During a fireside chat with Vice President JD Vance at the MAHA Summit in Washington, Kennedy argued that AI could analyze a long medical record more fully than a doctor with limited appointment time. His specific claim was: “It can give you a second opinion that is much better informed than any doctor in the country.” The transcript records his words; it does not show that AI has been proven superior to doctors across diagnosis, treatment, communication, follow-up, or responsibility for care. Read the Roll Call / Factba.se transcript.
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Kennedy also recounted a conversation in which, he said, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told him: “But today, i- — it would be malpractice for a doctor to make a diagnosis or to make a prescription without at least checking AI.” That is Kennedy’s account of what Altman said. It does not establish that Altman made the statement, or that consulting AI is a legal or professional standard.
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AI assistance and clinical care are different comparisons
AI may help retrieve information or organize a large record. Those bounded tasks are not equivalent to caring for a patient: a clinician takes a history, interprets details in context, exercises judgment, discusses options, and remains responsible for decisions and follow-up. A useful second opinion is not automatically a safer or more accurate one, and a system’s ability to produce a fluent answer does not establish that its recommendation is right.
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The available evidence here does not identify an overall winner between AI and physicians. It also does not provide a current, general-purpose clinical accuracy rate that could justify saying AI is “better than human doctors.” That broader conclusion would require evidence across real clinical tasks and outcomes, not just an argument that software can process more information quickly.
Why medical societies objected to the framing
The American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Physicians, and American College of Surgeons issued a joint response, reported by Fierce Healthcare. They warned: “Statements suggesting AI is inherently better informed than physicians, or that physicians cannot be trusted to make clinical decisions without first consulting this technology, diminish physician expertise and risk undermining patients’ trust.”
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The organizations argued that physicians bring training, experience, attention to each patient’s circumstances, professional judgment, and responsibility for care. They concluded: “But patient safety, physician expertise and the humanity of clinical practice must guide how these tools are developed and used.” These statements describe the societies’ concern; they do not demonstrate that public trust has already fallen because of Kennedy’s speech.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsWhat a small perception study says about trusting AI answers
A 2024 arXiv preprint by Shekar, Pataranutaporn, Sarabu, Cecchi, and Maes offers a limited reason for caution. The authors assembled 150 AI-generated answers to medical questions; physician evaluators classified 56.0% as high accuracy and 44.0% as low accuracy. Those figures describe that selected research set under the study’s rating method—not the real-world diagnostic accuracy of AI systems.
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- More than twice as loud* as the next leading stethoscope. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Allows you to more reliably and consistently hear heart sounds at lower frequencies (below 120Hz*) like Korotkoff sounds, Mitral Stenosis and S3 and S4 Gallops when compared to other leading stethoscopes. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Weighs less** than other stethoscopes. ** Based on published weights of globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class.
In the experiment, 100 online participants evaluated selected question-and-answer pairs. Their accuracy in identifying whether a response came from a physician or AI was around 50%, and participants could judge low-accuracy AI responses as valid, trustworthy, or complete. The study suggests that users may have difficulty recognizing an unreliable answer when it sounds persuasive. It does not measure patient harm in practice or prove that AI is worse or better than doctors overall. The authors also found that participants valued physician involvement in delivering medical advice. Read the 2024 preprint.
How to treat AI advice when you have a medical question
For patients, the sensible distinction is between using AI to prepare for a conversation and treating it as the authority that replaces one. You can use a tool to organize questions or help make a complicated record easier to discuss, but its answer should not decide a diagnosis or medication change on its own.
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- Useful in non-critical care environments such as a medical office, general ward, OB/GYN, ambulatory clinic or urgent care
- More than twice as loud* as the next leading stethoscope. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Allows you to more reliably and consistently hear heart sounds at lower frequencies (below 120Hz*) like Korotkoff sounds, Mitral Stenosis and S3 and S4 Gallops when compared to other leading stethoscopes. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Weighs less** than other stethoscopes. ** Based on published weights of globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class.
- Ask a qualified clinician to interpret symptoms, test results, and treatment options in your circumstances.
- Do not start, stop, or change prescribed treatment solely because a chatbot recommends it.
- If an AI answer conflicts with medical advice, ask the clinician to explain the disagreement and what information should guide the decision.
Records access is a proposal, not a deployed AI system
Kennedy said HHS was working toward Americans having access to their medical records on cell phones by the end of the administration. That is a stated political goal, not evidence that a new product is already available or that the date is guaranteed. Separately, The Guardian reported that at another MAHA-related event he advocated connecting medical and lifestyle information for government and independent researchers to analyze with AI. That describes a policy vision, not an implemented integrated system.
More access to records could make information easier to review, but it would not by itself validate an AI interpretation or resolve questions about safety, privacy, accountability, and clinical follow-up.
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