AI Deepfakes Used in Fake Weight-Loss Endorsements: A Doctor's Story

The Rise of the Pink Salt Diet Gimmick

• 💡 The "pink salt diet" is a new weight-loss trend promoted through ads featuring celebrity and doctor endorsements.
• ⚠️ Many of these endorsements are actually AI-generated deepfakes, falsely attributing statements to real individuals.

A Doctor's Personal Experience

• 🎯 Dr. Rachel Goldman, a Manhattan psychologist, discovered an AI-generated version of herself promoting the diet.
• 😨 She describes the experience as "weird and scary," noting that her fake AI persona shared inaccurate credentials.
• 💬 Dr. Goldman has been receiving messages from people who believed the deepfakes, with some even asking if they were billed incorrectly or if the product was safe.

Broader Implications and Celebrity Experiences

• 🚫 Even public figures like Oprah Winfrey and Gail King have had to publicly denounce deepfake ads using their likenesses to endorse products.
• 📢 Oprah stated clearly that any ad featuring her face on a product is fake, despite her digital security team's efforts to remove them.
• 😟 Gail King expressed how unsettling it was to have people inquire about products she never endorsed.

Legislative and Platform Responses

• 📜 Congresswoman Iet Clark has proposed the Deep Fakes Accountability Act, which would require digital watermarks on manufactured deepfakes.
• ⏳ The upcoming bipartisan Take It Down Act will mandate that websites remove fake content within 48 hours.
• 🏢 Meta and YouTube have stated they have removed violating ads and accounts, but the scale of the problem is significant.

Identifying and Combating Deepfakes

• 🔍 Experts demonstrated how easily AI deepfake videos can be created using platforms for voice cloning and lip-syncing.
• 📈 The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has seen a doubling of complaints and nearly tripling of financial losses related to deepfakes.
• ⚠️ Tips for spotting deepfakes include looking for awkward facial movements, poor lip-syncing, hissing or buzzing sounds, and unnatural hand movements.
• ❓ Dr. Goldman advises people to "pause before you react, pause, inquire, ask people, ask your doctor" when encountering medical advice online.
• 💻 A key strategy is to verify endorsements directly on the celebrity's or doctor's official website or social media.