Eckart von Hirschhausen targets AI-generated medical deepfakes

German physician and journalist Eckart von Hirschhausen is among several prominent medical figures targeted by AI-generated deepfakes. Scammers use artificial intelligence to replicate the faces, expressions, and voices of medical experts to promote fraudulent products, such as fake diabetes cures, in deceptive online advertisements.

These scams, referred to as ‘Medfakes’, have reached a massive scale. Andreas Arntzen, head of Wort & Bild Verlag, reported that approximately 100,000 misleading and health-threatening advertisements have achieved a reach of one hundred million page views. Hirschhausen has described the phenomenon as a ‘real medical emergency’ because the fraudulent content not only causes financial loss but also poses direct risks to the health and lives of vulnerable patients.

Experts and medical officials are calling for increased political intervention. Klaus Reinhardt, President of the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer), criticized the lack of enforcement against such digital identity theft, while others have suggested that European Union regulators in Brussels must take active steps to combat the growing trend.