Amna Nawaz
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WATCH: AI may someday make FDA ‘irrelevant,’ RFK Jr. says in Senate hearing
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April 22, 2026
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April 22, 2026
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2:00Now PlayingHealth Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified on Wednesday about the ways his department is using artificial intelligence to make some processes more efficient, including dramatically shortening approval time for new drugs.
“AI is going to revolutionize medicine. And it may at — someday, at some point — make FDA even irrelevant. And it's going to give us the capacity to develop new drugs, personalized medicine for every citizen,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy was responding to a question from Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., in a hearing on President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request.
“AI is very dangerous, potentially, but it also has the capacity to bring really great things to humanity, particularly in the realm of human health,” he added.
Kennedy appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
In an earlier hearing, Kennedy faced questioning about his stance on vaccines, Trump’s drug website known as Trump Rx, as well as proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and influential chair of the Senate Health Committee, had opportunities in both hearings Wednesday to press Kennedy, whose approach to vaccines he’s criticized in the past.
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