Six Physician Groups Push Back After RFK Jr. Says AI Gives Better-Informed Second Opinions Than Any Doctor

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The statement was signed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians and the American College of Surgeons. These groups represent the doctors most families see for checkups, children’s care, pregnancy and surgery.

The exchange matters well beyond Washington. Many households already type symptoms, lab results, and medication questions into chatbots. For a parent weighing a child’s fever or a caregiver reading an older relative’s test results, the question is no longer whether to use AI but how far to trust it.

Kennedy made the remarks on Sept. 29 at the Make America Healthy Again Summit, during a fireside chat with Vice President JD Vance, according to Fierce Healthcare. He said AI has the power to “free us from medical tyranny.”

Kennedy framed AI as a tool for patients to check official advice. “If somebody tells you masks work, trust the experts, and AI may tell you otherwise,” he said, before offering similar examples about social distancing and vaccines. Recounting a conversation with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Kennedy said Altman told him it would now be malpractice for a doctor to diagnose or prescribe without checking AI, Medical Economics reported.

His stated rationale centered on patient access to information. “By the time we leave, every American will have access on their cell phones to their own medical records,” Kennedy said, describing AI that could summarize those records for patients.

Fierce Healthcare, citing Politico and STAT, reported that the summit’s corporate sponsors included Walmart, OpenAI and Anthropic. As of Oct. 6, MedicalDaily had not found an HHS response to the physician groups.

The physician organizations did not reject AI. They argued it should support doctors, not compete with them. “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,” the groups said.

Physicians, they added, “ask questions, understand each patient’s unique needs and circumstances, exercise professional judgment and take responsibility for the care they provide.” The groups said AI has “tremendous potential,” but “patient safety, physician expertise and the humanity of clinical practice must guide how these tools are developed and used.”

“We need to move carefully, and we need to get this right,” the groups wrote. The statement did not address Kennedy’s examples about masks, social distancing, or vaccines.

Doctors themselves are heavy AI users. A 2026 AMA survey found that 81% of physicians use AI, up from 38% in 2023, Healthcare Finance News reported. The dispute is about who makes the final call, not whether the technology belongs in medicine.

Patients are already ahead of the policy debate. A KFF poll on AI and health information, conducted Feb. 24 to March 2, 2026, found that 32% of U.S. adults used AI chatbots for health information or advice in the past year. Among adults under 30, 36% turned to AI for physical health questions and 28% for mental health questions.

Cost and access play a role. One in five adults who use AI for health cited difficulty accessing or affording care, KFF found. For those households, a chatbot may feel like the only fast, free option.

The patient safety nonprofit ECRI named misuse of AI chatbots the top health technology hazard for 2026, citing chatbots that suggested incorrect diagnoses, recommended unnecessary testing, and even invented body parts, Fierce Healthcare reported. ECRI said chatbots “are programmed to sound confident and to always provide an answer to satisfy the user, even when the answer isn’t reliable.”

“While chatbots are powerful tools, the algorithms cannot replace the expertise, education, and experience of medical professionals,” said Dr. Marcus Schabacker, ECRI’s president and CEO. Public opinion is more divided. A 13-country Edelman survey found that 49% of respondents believed someone without medical training who knows how to use AI could perform at least one health task as well as or better than a trained health care professional, as MedicalDaily previously reported.

No study cited in coverage of the summit shows that general chatbots are better informed than doctors in real patient care. AI can perform well on narrow tasks, but answering a test question is not the same as examining a patient and taking responsibility for the result.

AI chatbots can help patients prepare questions, explain medical terms, and understand a diagnosis their clinician has given. They are less safe as the final word on starting or stopping a medicine, deciding whether symptoms need urgent care, or reading complex test results.

ECRI advises verifying chatbot information with knowledgeable sources. In practice, that means bringing AI answers to a doctor, nurse or pharmacist rather than acting on them alone. Do not stop or change a prescribed medication based on a chatbot response without talking with a clinician.

People with chronic conditions, pregnant patients, parents of young children and caregivers for older adults face the highest stakes, because dosing or triage errors can escalate quickly. Chest pain, trouble breathing, signs of stroke, confusion, or a rapidly worsening condition call for emergency care, not a chatbot.

The debate will likely continue as HHS expands patient access to digital records and AI tools. For now, the most reasonable path for most families is to treat AI as a starting point for better questions, while leaving diagnosis and treatment to a licensed clinician who knows the full picture.

What did RFK Jr. say about AI and doctors?

At the Make America Healthy Again Summit in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said AI can offer patients a second opinion “much better informed than any doctor in the country.” He also said AI could “free us from medical tyranny.”

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 statement on Sept. 30.

Are the physician groups against AI in medicine?

No. The groups said AI has “tremendous potential” but argued that patient safety, physician expertise, and human judgment must guide its use. They objected to framing AI as better informed than doctors.

Kennedy said Americans will soon have access to their own medical records on their phones. He described AI as a way for patients to review their records and check the advice they receive.

Is it safe to use an AI chatbot for health questions?

Chatbots can help you prepare questions or understand medical terms, but the safety group ECRI has documented incorrect diagnoses and invented information. Verify chatbot answers with a clinician or pharmacist before acting on them.

When should I skip the chatbot and get care?

Chest pain, trouble breathing, signs of stroke, sudden confusion, or a rapidly worsening condition need emergency care. Do not change or stop a prescription based on AI advice without speaking with a clinician.

How many Americans use AI for health advice?

A KFF poll conducted in early 2026 found that 32% of U.S. adults used AI chatbots for health information or advice in the past year, with higher use among adults under 30.