Health advice from AI cartoons are trending, but can they be trusted?

These short, cute, and bite-sized reels are taking over everyone’s feeds.

Somewhere along your social media doomscrolling, you’ve likely encountered a hyper-realistic, Cocomelon-esque animation of a talking banana or a literal human heart introducing themselves with a cheerful, “Ako si (food/organ/object), at ako ang (purpose of the food/organ/object).”

These are the usual formats of the AI-generated educational videos in the Philippines. Pages like Doc Toon PH, AI King Pinoy and Dr. AI have leaned into the art of edutainment — turning complex health advice into cute, bite-sized, and shareable clips. Yet, behind the high engagement and oh-so cute animation lies a growing concern between digital convenience and medical credibility.

While these videos may carry factual information (like bananas being good for digestion), their virality poses a huge challenge to licensed health professionals and fitness influencers. In a country where healthcare is often inaccessible and expensive, Filipinos are beginning to trust adorable AI cartoon characters as seen from the engagement of these reels.

The most frightening aspect is the lack of accountability. Most of these pages rarely show a face, a clinic, or a PRC license attached to the content and some have even categorized their own pages as entertainment, satire, and “just for fun.”

In 2024, the World Health Organization warned of the rise of “convincing but wrong” AI health advice, and just last month, the Department of Health and the Bureau of Customs have started to flag AI-generated misinformation that misleads the public for profit or clout.

As of writing, no reports of false information have been raised against these Filipino ‘edu-tainment’ pages. To verify their credentials and information, radar contacted the pages mentioned but hasn’t received a response yet. Still, remain vigilant, check the facts, and follow the appropriate health and fitness experts in social media instead of blindly trusting the cute and adorable talking fruits, organs and everyday objects.

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