Who among us hasn't indulged in the daytime TV schlock of personalities like Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, or Judge Judy?

Sure, it's grossly exploitative, and yeah, it's chock full of scammy product placement, but hey, it's not like these guys are in charge of federal policy. At least, they weren't until Americans elected the reality TV guru himself, Donald Trump, into executive office.

Now, thanks to Trump's appointments, those same grubby TV hosts are sitting in on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, bombing civilians in Yemen — and, most recently, considering federal policy to replace your human doctor with AI.

Most of us probably remember Mehmet "Dr. Oz" Oz, the quack TV doctor who once suggested that apple juice contains an alarming level of arsenic, among other bonkers gaffes. Fresh off of his Senate loss to a guy with brain damage, Oz is now the administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where he took up most of his first all-hands meeting soapboxing for artificial intelligence, according to Wired.

That included urging the use of AI at the CMS — an agency that provides last-resort health coverage to over 160 million Americans — and floating the idea of "prioritizing AI avatars over frontline healthcare workers."

Oz, who has no experience with healthcare policy, seems to think that AI could be the solution to the health insurance crisis that has long plagued Americans. Who needs expensive doctors when an algorithm could hallucinate your healthcare details for a fraction of the cost?

The CMS head also implored his staff to stay healthy, saying it was their "patriotic duty." This echoes some conservative arguments against universal healthcare that say the United States is too unhealthy for socialized medical coverage — as well as some more troubling attitudes from Germany circa 1930, where individual health was tied to cultural pride, and national health became an excuse for ruthless experimentation.

Whether Oz will use public health and patriotism to justify an AI-fueled health care hell remains to be seen, but if he does, it won't be good. Recent polling by the University of Michigan indicates that 74 percent of adults aged 50 or older have very little or no confidence in health information delivered by AI — meaning a nationwide rollout of artificial doctors could push Americans even further down the healthcare misinformation hole.

That might be fine if you, like Oz, trust fake pills to cure your ails — but bad news for the rest of us dealing with the public health fallout while navigating an already nightmarish health insurance system.

More on medicine: New Law Would Allow AI to Replace Your Doctor, Prescribe Drugs


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