Can doctors do anything about the deepfake medical misinformation threat?
Professor Jeannie Paterson says doctors exploited for deepfake scams have some legal comeback, but it can be complicated and frustrating.
Last December, endocrinologist Professor Jonathan Shaw discovered that an AI deepfake version of himself was calling doctors “idiots” for treating diabetes with metformin.
He struggled to force Facebook to remove the misleading video until the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, where he is deputy director, pointed out that the video broke copyright law.
Now, Professor Jeannie Paterson, co-director of Melbourne Law School’s Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, says Professor Shaw’s saga demonstrates that a global trend in medical misinformation has reached Australia.
“Last year, there was a lot of misuse of deepfakes in South Africa to promote dodgy alternative medicines,” she says.
