Deepfake Doctors: AI-Generated Medical Ad Scams

[upbeat music] This week on The Perfect Scam.

A friend of mine sent me a link on TikTok and said, "Is this you?" I clicked on the video, and it was a likeness of me hawking vitamins, K2D3, which is something I've never done and something I've never recorded, and I was just stunned to see what looked like me and words coming out of my mouth that wasn't me.

[upbeat music] Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.

I'm your host, Bob Sullivan.

Imagine scrolling through TikTok or Instagram or Facebook and you see an ad that appears to be from a doctor you know, and she's telling you that there's a new supplement that she thinks would work perfectly for you at your age, or with your special skin condition, or as you face that scary diagnosis, and it's all fake.

This sounds a bit like science fiction, but this is happening right now.

In a moment, you'll hear from a doctor who had his image, his personhood really, and his reputation stolen and used to sell supplements.

We've heard a lot about deep fake videos and how they might distort a politician's point of view.

We've heard much less about deep fake advertisements.

In the end, that might be an even scarier problem.

Okay, now I want you to meet a specialist who works with kids in the most heartbreaking situations, kids with spina bifida or kids left paralyzed by accidents.

And as he says, he tries to get them to win, whatever winning means for them.

But recently, criminals put him in a no-win situation.