Quebec doctors are sounding the alarm over recent deepfake videos that have been appearing online, saying they can erode public trust in the medical system and put people's health at risk.

The AI-generated videos use the likeness of real doctors to give questionable health-care advice and falsely advertise or sell certain products.

"It is something that is putting a lot of damage on all physicians in Quebec and in Canada," said Dr. François Marquis, chief of intensive care at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal.

Marquis said he was in disbelief when he first learned his image was being used in a deepfake video.

He received phone calls from people saying "you're all over Facebook," he said, "or that you have discovered something and they want to know if it's true and if they can get the drugs."

Marquis said the problem is that his face is known and that he's trusted.

"So it's not only my patients, it's any patient who's trusting me or any patient trusting physicians at large," he said, explaining how people can be duped.

Dr. Alain Vadeboncoeur, an emergency physician at the Montreal Heart Institute, said his image has also been used to falsely promote various products. In the past week alone, he says four different videos were brought to his attention.