What official statements or press releases has Dr. Sanjay Gupta made regarding Neurocept or similar scams?
Executive summary
No official statements or press releases from Dr. Sanjay Gupta about Neurocept or the specific Facebook/Chrome video ads are present in the reporting provided; the materials instead document deceptive ads that appropriate Gupta’s likeness and voice, and consumers and watchdogs have flagged those ads as fraudulent [1] [2]. The available sources describe the ads and consumer reactions but do not include an endorsed denial or press release from Dr. Gupta or his representatives [1] [2].
1. What the reporting actually shows about the Neurocept ads
The two sourced reports describe the same pattern: long promotional videos running on social platforms or browsers that feature a purported endorsement by Dr. Sanjay Gupta of a cognitive‑decline product (variously named Neurocept or IQ Blast), and consumers recognized the content as misleading and likely unauthorized [1] [2]. One report from Avvo documents a Facebook ad using an AI video of Gupta that later reappeared with other public figures’ likenesses, a red flag for fabrication and reuse of celebrity images in scam advertising [1]. The Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker entry recounts a user’s experience with an ad on Chrome that convincingly used Gupta’s image and voice to promote a supplement and explicitly notes the user’s belief that the video appropriated Gupta’s likeness without permission [2].
2. What is not in the reporting: no cited official response from Dr. Gupta
Neither source includes or cites any official statement, press release, or tweet issued by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, his employer, or legal representatives disavowing the ad or addressing Neurocept specifically, so the reporting cannot confirm that Gupta has made an official public comment on these particular scams [1] [2]. The absence of a cited rebuttal in these pieces is itself a verifiable detail of the reporting: the articles document consumer reports and watchdog listings rather than relaying a spokesperson’s denial [1] [2].
3. Consumer and watchdog interpretation presented as proxy rebuttal
Because the sources lack a direct quote from Gupta, they rely on the standard consumer‑protection framing: viewers and the BBB assert that a reputable medical journalist like Gupta would not endorse an unproven product, and they warn that the ad’s use of his likeness is inappropriate and deceptive [2]. The Avvo post similarly treats the video as fake and notes the pattern of swapping different public figures’ images into the same fabricated pitch, an implicit indicator that the endorsements are not genuine and not sanctioned by the named physicians [1].
4. Alternative viewpoints and limits of the available evidence
An alternative explanation—unsupported in these sources—would be that Gupta or his camp did respond elsewhere, or that a takedown or formal complaint was filed with platforms; the provided reporting simply does not document any such action, so it cannot confirm or refute those possibilities [1] [2]. It is also possible that mainstream fact‑checking outlets or Gupta’s employer have addressed similar deepfake endorsement scams in other reporting not included here; without those sources, asserting that Gupta made no statement beyond what’s cited would overreach the available evidence [1] [2].
5. Bottom line — what can be stated with confidence
Based strictly on the supplied reporting, the factual takeaway is narrow but clear: the documents describe fraudulent promotional videos that misuse Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s likeness to market cognitive supplements, and complainants and the BBB identify those videos as scams; none of the provided sources includes an official statement or press release from Dr. Gupta about Neurocept or those specific ads [1] [2]. Any definitive claim that Gupta issued an official denial or legal response requires additional sourcing beyond what the current reporting supplies.