AI is impersonating doctors — are you next?

Artificial intelligence has made it possible to convincingly replicate a person's face and voice with just a few seconds of source material — and physicians are increasingly finding themselves the unwitting stars of fabricated videos they never made. From AI-generated clips promoting unproven supplements and treatments to synthetic voices impersonating doctors in scam calls, deepfake technology has opened a new front in medical identity theft that puts both patients and physicians' professional reputations at risk.

The problem isn't hypothetical. Scammers have used AI to fabricate physician endorsements for products the doctor never used or recommended, and in some cases, to extract money or personal financial information from patients who believe they're interacting with a trusted provider. The advocacy response from medical organizations is still catching up to the pace of the technology, leaving many physicians unsure of what protections exist or what to do if they discover their likeness has been used without consent.

For physicians, understanding how these scams work — and what recourse is available — is becoming an essential part of protecting both their patients and their professional identity.

Medical Economics spoke with Matthew Wellman and Neda Shaheen, attorneys at Holland & Knight, about this issue to learn more.