The White House updated its “Make America Healthy Again” report on childhood chronic disease after facing scrutiny from experts over the apparent use of artificial intelligence to generate citations, The Washington Post reported May 29.

Of the 522 citations in the initial report with links to articles or studies, at least 21 were dead and 37 appeared multiple times, according to a review by the Post. Some citations also included the wrong authors, while several others cited studies that do not exist. In other instances, hyperlinks included the term “oaicite,” a marker that indicates the use of OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tools, according to the report.

The report’s potential use of AI has faced swift criticism from technology experts, lawmakers and public policy leaders. Anand Parekh, MD, chief medical adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, called the situation a “cautionary tale” for AI’s use in government. 

Georges Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said the inaccurate citations undermine the report’s credibility.

“This is not an evidence-based report, and for all practical purposes, it should be junked at this point,” he told the Post. “It cannot be used for any policymaking. It cannot even be used for any serious discussion, because you can’t believe what’s in it.”

The White House updated the MAHA report May 29 to remove several “oaicite” markers and mentions of “corrected hyperlinks.” 

“Minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected, but the substance of the MAHA report remains the same — a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Post.

The updates come as leaders across industries, including healthcare, grapple with how to balance the efficiencies of AI tools against growing concerns around accuracy, credibility and reputational risk.