A federal judge lit into the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for using either AI or fake studies to defend the Trump administration’s decision to fund only abstinence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs.
“While abstinence-only education may well be appropriate for some age groups or communities, the agency has offered no explanation or evidence to support its across-the-board mandate that only abstinence strategies be pursued,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in his opinion. “On the topic of body literacy, the notices (remarkably) reference public health studies that appear either not to exist or not to support the propositions for which they are cited—a hallmark of AI-generated citations.”
Cooper issued a preliminary injunction, pausing an order that has already led to millions of dollars in grant cuts.
“The Court concludes that the Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on their arbitrary and capricious claim, combined with the severity and irremediable harm to their programming and the balance of equities in their favor, justify the issuance of a preliminary injunction in this case,” he wrote.
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration—and HHS—have used AI to generate references or content. Last year, the department’s “Make America Healthy Again” report contained references to articles that didn’t exist and multiple citation errors.
The HHS is likely using fake AI slop to justify and defend bad MAHA policies that have real material impacts on the lives of everyday Americans, and could have alarming effects on public health.