Artificial intelligence accounts that impersonate medical professionals on social media are on the rise. CBS News Confirmed producer Alex Clark joins to discuss.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to create videos that impersonate doctors on social media platforms. These AI-generated 'Dr. Deepfakes' not only feature completely fabricated physicians but also mimic real medical professionals, sometimes promoting questionable products or misleading health advice.

Cybersecurity researchers and fact-checking teams have identified hundreds of such videos circulating online. While social media companies like TikTok and Meta have removed some violating content, experts warn that more needs to be done to protect the public from misinformation. Viewers are advised to look for signs of AI manipulation—such as unnatural faces, robotic voices, or exaggerated claims—and to be cautious about seeking medical advice from social media.

AI accounts impersonating doctors on social media

So a new type of video is spreading across your social media feed and it's called Dr. Deepfakes and while the physicians in some of these videos were completely created by artificial intelligence Real medical professionals are also being mimicked to sell questionable products or promote dangerous advice Our CBS News confirmed team which focuses on fact-checking visual verification and open source investigations Looked into what's behind this rise and you're looking at producer Alex Clark his desk right next to mine Up in this building and can talk to us more about this. Good morning, Alex. Great to see you again I see you every day, but how widespread is this and how did your team discover that they were mimicking real docs? Well, this is actually very widespread We worked with the cyber security company ESET and their research also points to a rise in this type of video over the last couple Months and what we've been seeing is hundreds of these artificially intelligence created videos Where people are interpreting or trying to be like doctors and this began with the doctor named Joseph Burwell Dr. Joel Burwell, he basically said that um, he's very known online He has many followers and he asked them to help him because somebody was deepfaking his own image on the internet Wow, we've got some sound from him. Yeah It looked like me. It didn't sound like me though, but it had my mannerisms It was in my same room that I usually sit in to make my videos and the same background But it was promoting a product that I'd never promoted in the past In a voice that wasn't mine. And when we have fiction out there we have what are thought to be Experts in a field saying something that may not be true that distorts What is fact and it makes it harder for the public to believe anything that comes out of science from a doctor? from the healthcare system overall Wow, I mean this is something we all worry about being mimicked being copied but for doctors that the the risks are higher How dangerous is this and how responsive are sold social media platforms to take them down? so doctors say that this can be really dangerous because it could lead people to try things that they wouldn't try or Seek out cures that may not work for them We reached out to tick tock and meta both companies took steps to take down the videos that violated their platform policies But many people say there's still more that needs to be done You know people shouldn't get medical advice from what's on their social feed But plenty of people do or at least they get ideas. They wouldn't have previously So, how can people be more discerning when seeing this very believable stuff right in their palms? So there are a few things that you can look out for First off look at the faces see if there's any glitches any warping or anything that looks unnatural Secondly listen to the voices if they sound robotic or fake or artificial It could be AI and third just watch out for overblown claims If something's promising to be guaranteed to work or like a miracle cure chances are it might be too good to be true Yeah There's no magic pill for anything and you know Try to listen to someone who yells every now and then because real humans have emotion Alex Clark great work from you and your team our folks should check this out online. Thanks for being here. Thank you

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