Meta Is Letting Fake AI-Generated Doctors Sell Quack Cures on Its Platforms

Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Shutterstock Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Fake AI-generated doctors and health gurus have taken over Facebook and Instagram, sharing unproven medical advice and peddling dubious supplements. A recent New York Times investigation into the phenomenon reviewed hundreds of these ads, finding that they tend to follow a loose formula to draw people in. The AI videos usually feature AI avatars that present themselves as credible figures like doctors or Eastern medical gurus. Many prominently feature American flags or are set in familiar suburban settings. Some of the AI avatars are made to look like average people who’re really enthusiastic about the supplement they’re taking, filming themselves in a parking lot, bedroom, or grocery store — not unlike human influencers. The doctor avatars, meanwhile, might be in an office, where their fake diplomas are clearly on display. (One bears the incredible text “University of Degree” in a video identified by the NYT.) “In Chinese medicine, we have known exactly how to bring this down for generations,” says one AI-generated Asian grandma dressed in a labcoat highlighted in the investigation. Many of the claims these videos make are misleading and outright dangerous. One advertising a product called “Sculptique” asserts that taking its herbal supplement treats kidney disease better than medication. The company claims it gave 100 people with stage three kidney disease its supplement, showing an AI-generated video of these fake recipients raising their supplement bottles together in a warehouse. A 71-year-old named Pamela Wundrow told the NYT that she bought a supplement called moringa to treat her symptoms related to autoimmune disease after seeing ads for it on Facebook from a company called Rosabella. Months after she started taking the pills daily, federal regulators announced a recall for Rosabella’s moringa supplement because some of its contaminated pills were sickening people with salmonella. Wundrow said she didn’t experience salmonella symptoms, but claims her health got worse as she took the supplement. “They’re targeting us people that have health issues,” Wundrow told the paper. These ads don’t come from nowhere. One Chinese company uses AI videos to help brands sell their products on TikTok — another wasteland of AI slop — designing their ads to look American as possible. “Watch and learn bro,” says an AI-generated guy kitted out in tactical gear after yanking a fish out of water in a video by the company. He then whips out a gadget that doubles as a flashlight. The company, which the NYT doesn’t identify, claims to churn out 1,200 AI videos every day, with each costing just $10 to make. Its head of AI marketing, Vivi Yi, admitted that advertising health products required more caution; “weight management” is used instead of claiming to “lose weight,” she said. As the NYT notes, these ads would be illegal if broadcasted on American TV. But on social media, the rules are looser and harder to enforce. TikTok told the NYT that it’s been banning accounts that make misleading health claims, and Meta says it labels AI-generated content. But the NYT found some clearly AI generated health videos that were still on the platform, which were later removed. That leaves the older people these AI videos target left to use their own judgment — and many can’t tell what’s real anymore. “I have seen others where you can tell it’s AI,” Wundrow said while watching the video of an elderly woman claiming that their supplement is backed by Chinese medicine. “To me this does not look like an AI.” More on AI: Spotify Doubles Down on AI Slop As It’s Being Flooded With It