CHENNAI: Dr V
Mohan
, a senior diabetologist, has flagged as "fake" a video of a person resembling him offering a guarantee that a drug can cure diabetes in less than 48 hours, underscoring how such social media clips generated by artificial intelligence (AI) can become the next health hazard.
The video posted on the Facebook pages of the
Indian Medical Association of Tirunelveli
has gone viral.
The clip shows the person speaking in
Hindi
, a language Mohan says he never learnt. The advertisement combined a real video of Mohan with an altered version of his voice that experts say was likely generated with AI.
Mohan complained about this in November 2023 to Tamil Nadu police's cyber security cell and officials removed the video. But, says the doctor, it's back again.
The voice sounds so much like me but the lip sync is bad. I have posted a message saying it is fake, yet many people I know including my own patients have asked me if I can prescribe the drug for them,” he said. “Diabetes remission is possible. But that’s with medicines, diet, and exercise. No other magical remedy is possible,” he said. Doctors’ associations say this is one of a growing number of such fake videos. In some cases, there are no real doctors.
People in white coats or scrubs—mostly bots generated by AI- —tell people how chiaseeds can bring down blood sugar levels or almonds with sugar candy and fennel mixed milk can cure “difficult-totreat” brain diseases or how magical pills made from plant cells can trigger weight loss. “These fakes are cheaper and easier to create now thanks to AI. Now, there are tools to create them easily even on smartphone apps, often free of cost.
But such fake messages are a dangerous public health hazard. There are speechcloning tools that can be trained to replicate voices in seconds,” said
IMA-TN
president
Dr KM Abdul Hasan
. “While we will write to govt seeking prompt and stringent action, we also feel it’s time to create awareness among doctors and patients about these,”
Hasan
said.
IMA
will soon hold a meeting in Chennai on the issue.
English (US) ·