The National Medical Commission has issued new ethical advertising guidelines barring doctors and hospitals from using artificial intelligence to create patient testimonials.

AI-generated promotional content for commercial purposes is prohibited. Any permitted AI content must carry a clear label stating that it was made by AI.

The rules say AI cannot be used to create or alter a patient’s image, testimonial, voice or clinical outcome, or to build a fake endorsement appearing to come from a real patient or doctor.

Patient consent alone cannot make a banned testimonial acceptable. Posts by doctors on social media must disclose their name, qualifications and medical registration number. Live broadcasts of surgeries face fresh restrictions.

The guidelines were reported by the Hyderabad Mail and Medical Dialogues. They update the commission’s advertising norms for the age of generative AI, under which realistic patient testimonials and doctor endorsements can be fabricated at scale. The commission said patient consent alone cannot make a banned testimonial acceptable.