(Toronto, June 26, 2026) JMIR Publications released three News and Perspectives stories exploring different areas of authenticity in the current clinical and scholarly landscape: regulation tensions around AI chatbots presenting themselves as medical authorities; the danger of AI-generated deepfakes of real physicians, and the American Medical Association's response; and the rising issue of academic identity theft.
The Rise of Unlicensed Medical AI
" Regulating AI Chatbot Impersonations of Medical Professionals ", authored by MD-PhD candidate Tejas S Athni, covers recent controversies—and growing regulatory concern—involving conversational medical AI chatbots. One such controversy is the May 2026 enforcement action in Pennsylvania against Character.AI, which involved a chatbot falsely representing itself as a licensed psychiatrist, exercising the authority to assess a patient's medication needs.
These AI companies "may benefit from the appearance of medical authoritativeness yet avoid the formal legal obligations of licensed medical practice," notes Athni, pointing to the a separate controversy involving Doctronic, an AI platform which markets itself as an AI doctor while simultaneously disclaiming that it is not licensed and does not practice medicine. Existing laws and regulations are so far struggling to keep pace. "At present," writes Athni, "existing medical licensing or consumer protection frameworks remain underdeveloped to address these challenges—the legal landscape is fragmented."
Please cite as:
Athni TS. Regulating AI Chatbot Impersonations of Medical Professionals.
J Med Internet Res 2026;28:e104835
URL: https://www.jmir.org/2026/1/e104835
doi: 10.2196/104731
The Deepfake Will See You Now
Shalini Kathuria Narang's " American Medical Association Shares Framework to Address the Escalating Risk of Physician Deepfakes " reports on use of AI technology to create deepfakes—fraudulent recreations—of physicians, and the American Medical Association's response: a recently released policy framework for protecting digital physician identity.
Speaking with Shannon Curtis of the AMA Center for Digital Health and AI, Narang discusses how these deepfakes can damage "the reputations of those they impersonate and…lead to people making decisions about their health based on fake claims", and details seven policy principles developed by the AMA to address this issue:
Physician identity as a protected right;
Prohibition on deceptive medical impersonation;
Informed, opt-in, and revocable consent;
Mandatory transparency and labeling;
Shared responsibility to prevent impersonation;
Enforcement and practical remedies;
Minimizing administrative burden.
The next step is to translate this policy framework into actual policy, regulating AI-generated and -altered content depicting physicians through a set of enforceable guidelines. "The AMA is eager to collaborate with lawmakers, regulators, and industry to protect patients and doctors from these risks," writes Narang.
Please cite as:
Narang SK. American Medical Association Shares Framework to Address the Escalating Risk of Physician Deepfakes.
J Med Internet Res 2026;28:e104953
URL: https://www.jmir.org/2026/1/e104953
doi: 10.2196/104953
AI-Accelerated Academic Identity Theft
Cliff Dominy sheds light on another fraudulent use of AI: false authorship in scientific publishing. In " Identity Theft in Academia: Predatory Journals, AI, and the Rise of False Authorship ", Dominy reports that predatory journals are increasingly attaching the names of prominent scientists onto the bylines of fake research—now often created with generative AI tools—without their knowledge or consent.
This strategy is designed to boost the credibility of predatory journals in order to attract unsuspecting, unscrupulous scientists to their brand. The reputational harm to both authors and unwitting editors has exposed weaknesses in the trust-based academic system. Prepublication screening and initiatives like opensci.id, which aims to centralize academic identities in a verified database, may be key to curbing academic identity theft. Combating this AI-accelerated fraud will require robust verification steps and human oversight—and, argues Dominy, a broader reform of the publish-or-perish academic incentive structures that motivates this fraud.
Please cite as:
Dominy C. Identity Theft in Academia: Predatory Journals, AI, and the Rise of False Authorship.
J Med Internet Res 2026;28:e104934
URL: https://www.jmir.org/2026/1/e104934
doi: 10.2196/104934
About JMIR Publications News and Perspectives
JMIR Publications is a leading open access publisher of digital health research. The News and Perspectives section is the newest addition to its portfolio, established to bring the rigor and integrity of academic publishing to scientific journalism. The section features well-researched, expert-driven content from the Scientific News Editor, Kayleigh-Ann Clegg, PhD, and a network of specialist JMIR Publications Correspondents to keep the digital health community informed, inspired, and ahead of the curve.
About JMIR Publications
JMIR Publications is a leading open access publisher of digital health research and a champion of open science. With a focus on author advocacy and research amplification, JMIR Publications partners with researchers to advance their careers and maximize the impact of their work. As a technology organization with publishing at its core, we provide innovative tools and resources that go beyond traditional publishing, supporting researchers at every step of the dissemination process. Our portfolio features a range of peer-reviewed journals, including the renowned Journal of Medical Internet Research.
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