Associated Incidents
Joseph Allen, OD is well known on the conference lecture circuit, on social media, and for his YouTube channel, Dr. Eye Health, where he educates followers about a variety of eye health topics. His notoriety had a downside, though, when he discovered videos across social media that looked and sounded like him, but were spreading false information and selling bogus products. Dr. Allen was the victim of AI Deepfake scamming.
AI-generated deepfake and slop videos are increasingly targeting real-world doctors, impersonating them to create low-effort, algorithm-driven content that can spread dangerous health misinformation. Deepfakes are AI-manipulated or fabricated content that impersonates a real person for the purposes of spreading malicious or false information.
AI slop videos are AI-produced video content at scale that exploits social media's engagement algorithms and floods platforms like YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram, edging out original content creators. Dr. Allen noted that, "In some of these, they're telling you not to see your eye care provider and that our entire profession is a scam."
With legal counsel, Dr. Allen challenged the deepfakes targeting his channel but it took a month to get hold of TikTok where he discovered the fake, then it took another three weeks to prove he was the legitimate 'Dr. Eye Health.' An account was deplatformed, but within two or three hours, the scammers made a new account and reuploaded all the previous content. In Dr. Allen's case, the product being sold in the scam was eyedrops to reverse myopia. The drops were tracked back to a Chinese company selling millions of dollars in product on Amazon. The content of the drops remains in question.
Dr. Allen recommends looking for tell-tale signs for AI-generated videos, keeping in mind that as AI progresses, these signs may become more subtle, or even corrected. Look closely at the video content for odd editing, such as, do the subject's lips match up with the vocals and audio, or do they blink too much or too little? If it's selling a too-good-to-be-true product, then it probably is, and make sure to look and think carefully when it comes to such content.
Does it feel natural or not? Deepfakes still have difficulty portraying natural lighting and can make the subject feel unnatural due to a mismatch in lighting conditions or reflections. More signs are available from MIT researchers including clues from eyes and eyebrows, blinking, and glare on eyeglasses. As AI blurs the lines between reality and fiction, the responsibility falls on individual critical thinking about media content.