Artificial Intelligence Collides with FDA Bureaucracy: News Article - Independent Institute
Artificial Intelligence Collides with FDA Bureaucracy: News Article - Independent Institute
摘要: Artificial Intelligence Collides with FDA Bureaucracy
The FDA’s latest AI rollout reveals more about politics than innovation
Raymond J. March
正文
Artificial Intelligence Collides with FDA Bureaucracy
The FDA’s latest AI rollout reveals more about politics than innovation
Raymond J. March
August 20, 2026
Tara Winstead / Pexels
Tara Winstead / Pexels
News Article
Artificial Intelligence Collides with FDA Bureaucracy
The FDA’s latest AI rollout reveals more about politics than innovation
By Raymond J. March
August 20, 2026
Tara Winstead / Pexels
Artificial intelligence could do enormous good in medicine. A recent
peer-reviewed
of the field
finds it already detects tumors on scans as accurately as radiologists, designs new antibiotics in weeks, tailors cancer treatment to a patient’s genome, and forecasts outbreaks before they crest. A separate look at some
200 studies
in the journal Healthcare reached the same conclusion: used well, AI lowers costs and improves outcomes.
No wonder policymakers and politicians are urging the Food and Drug Administration to adopt more of it, and quickly. The
Unleash Prosperity
urges the agency to lean on AI for both drug approval and safety surveillance. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says AI will let the FDA
drugs “very, very quickly”
and replace much of its animal testing.
Excitement over pioneering technology and how it can dramatically improve a vital industry is one thing. Using it to accomplish those ambitious tasks is another. A tool is only as good as the hands holding it, and government has a long history of fumbling good technology.
AI is no exception. Last year, HHS released its flagship “Make America Healthy Again” report,
studies that did not exist
, alongside dozens of dead links—a well-known shortcoming of ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is an amazing product, and it wasn’t the problem. HHS and the FDA used it about as effectively as slacking college students cheating on a term paper.
Then came Elsa. The FDA launched its AI assistant in June 2025 to review clinical protocols and speed approvals. As I