AI-generated Pope Leo XIV sermons flood YouTube, TikTok
WASHINGTON - AI-generated videos and audios of Pope Leo XIV are populating rapidly online, racking up views as platforms struggle to police them.
An AFP investigation identified dozens of YouTube and TikTok pages that have been churning out AI-generated messages delivered in the pope's voice or otherwise attributed to him since he took charge of the Catholic Church last month.
The hundreds of fabricated sermons and speeches, in English and Spanish, underscore how easily hoaxes created using artificial intelligence can elude detection and dupe viewers.
"There's natural interest in what the new pope has to say, and people don't yet know his stance and style," said University of Washington professor emeritus Oren Etzioni, founder of TrueMedia.org, a nonprofit focused on fighting deepfakes.
"A perfect opportunity to sow mischief with AI-generated misinformation."
After AFP presented YouTube with 26 channels posting predominantly AI-generated pope content, the platform terminated 16 of them for violating its policies against spam, deceptive practices and scams, and another for violating YouTube's terms of service.
"We terminated several channels flagged to us by AFP for violating our Spam policies and Terms of Service," spokesperson Jack Malon said.
The company also booted an additional six pages from its partner program allowing creators to monetize their content.
TikTok similarly removed 11 accounts that AFP pointed out -- with over 1.3 million combined followers -- citing the platform's policies against impersonation, harmful misinformation and misleading AI-generated content of public figures.
'Chaotic uses'
With names such as "Pope Leo XIV Vision," the social media pages portrayed the pontiff supposedly offering a flurry of warnings and lessons he never preached.
But disclaimers annotating their use of AI were often hard to find -- and sometimes nonexistent.
On YouTube, a label demarcating "altered or synthetic content" is required for material that makes someone appear to say something they did not. But such disclosures only show up toward the bottom of each video's click-to-open description.
A YouTube spokesperson said the company has since applied a more prominent label to some videos on the channels flagged by AFP that were not found to have violated the platform's guidelines.
TikTok also requires creators to label posts sharing realistic AI-generated content, though several pope-centric videos went unmarked.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company proactively removes policy-violating content and uses verified badges to signal authentic accounts.
Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics at Santa Clara University, said the moderation difficulties are the result of rapid AI developments inspiring "chaotic uses of the technology."
Many clips on the YouTube channels AFP identified amassed tens of thousands of views before being deactivated.
On TikTok, one Spanish-language video received 9.6 million views while claiming to show Leo preaching about the value of supportive women. Another, which carried an AI label but still fooled viewers, was watched some 32.9 million times.
No video on the pope's official Instagram page has more than 6 million views.
Experts say even seemingly harmless fakes can be problematic especially if used to farm engagement for accounts that might later sell their audiences or pivot to other misinformation.
The AI-generated sermons not only "corrode the pope's moral authority" and "make whatever he actually says less believable," Green said, but could be harnessed "to build up trust around your channel before having the pope say something outrageous or politically expedient."
The pope himself has also warned about the risks of AI, while Vatican News called out a deepfake that purported to show Leo praising Burkina Faso leader Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in a 2022 coup.
AFP also debunked clips depicting the pope, who holds American and Peruvian citizenships, criticizing US Vice President JD Vance and Peru's President Dina Boluarte.
"There's a real crisis here," Green said. "We're going to have to figure out some way to know whether things are real or fake." — Agence France-Presse
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
2 days ago
- GMA Network
China's Premier Li proposes global AI cooperation organization
Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaks during the EU-China Business Leaders Symposium, at the 25th European Union - China Summit in the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, 24 July 2025. ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo SHANGHAI - Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday proposed establishing an organization to foster global cooperation on artificial intelligence, calling on countries to coordinate on the development and security of the fast-evolving technology. Speaking at the opening of the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Li called AI a new engine for growth, but adding that governance is fragmented and emphasizing the need for more coordination between countries to form a globally recognized framework for AI. The three-day event brings together industry leaders and policymakers at a time of escalating technological competition between China and the United States — the world's two largest economies — with AI emerging as a key battleground. "Currently, overall global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules," Li said. "We should strengthen coordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible," he said. Washington has imposed export restrictions on advanced technology to China, including the most high-end AI chips made by companies such as Nvidia and chipmaking equipment, citing concerns that the technology could enhance China's military capabilities. Despite these restrictions, China has continued making AI breakthroughs that have drawn close scrutiny from US officials. Li did not name the United States in his speech, but he warned that AI could become an "exclusive game" for a few countries and companies, and said challenges included an insufficient supply of AI chips and restrictions on talent exchange. China wanted to share its development experience and products with other countries, especially those in the Global South, Li said. WAIC is an annual government-sponsored event in Shanghai that typically attracts major industry players, government officials, researchers and investors. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has in past years regularly appeared at the opening ceremony both in-person and via video, did not speak this year. Besides forums, the conference also features exhibitions where companies demonstrate their latest innovations. This year, more than 800 companies are participating, showcasing more than 3,000 high-tech products, 40 large language models, 50 AI-powered devices and 60 intelligent robots, according to organizers. The exhibition features predominantly Chinese companies, including tech giants Huawei and Alibaba and startups such as humanoid robot maker Unitree. Western participants include Tesla, Alphabet and Amazon. —Reuters
GMA Network
07-07-2025
- GMA Network
DepEd to revise curriculum to include responsible AI use — Angara
To better prepare Filipino learners and educators for the fast-evolving digital landscape, Education Secretary Sonny Angara has announced that the agency is set to revise the national curriculum to include training on artificial intelligence use. 'Soon, babaguhin na rin natin 'yung ating curriculum para matutong gumamit ng A.I. ang mga bata at matutong gumamit ng A.I. 'yung mga guro natin. 'Yan ang pagbabagong ina-anticipate natin sa darating na mga taon,' said Angara. (Soon, we will revise the curriculum so that students and teachers alike can learn how to use A.I. This is a change we anticipate in the coming years.) This move comes amid growing use of AI tools by students — some in secret — and educators alike. In a report by Vonne Aquino on Unang Balita, a college sophomore referred to as 'John' admitted to discreetly using AI to complete assignments. 'Nagse-search po ako ng topic tapos, doon po is kinukuha ko po 'yung text (I search for a topic and then copy the text from there.),' he said. To avoid detection, he mixes the AI-generated content with his own ideas. 'Hinahaluan ko ng konting sariling opinion ko po (I add a bit of my own opinion to it),' he added. On the other hand, educators, like Daisy Marasigan, a senior high school teacher in Pagbilao, Quezon, are using AI more openly and proactively. 'I think it's high time — especially in the 21st century — na kailangan na nating i-embrace ang A.I., but of course there is caution,' she said. (I think it's high time — especially in the 21st century — that we embrace A.I., but of course with caution.) She has even posted tutorials on social media about using AI to create lesson plans. Despite these innovations, experts are warning about the risks of overreliance. A recent MIT study suggests that using AI to write essays may contribute to 'cognitive debt' — a reduced effort to think critically — potentially weakening a student's ability to learn independently. The findings, however, are not yet peer-reviewed and remain inconclusive. Meanwhile, Dr. Jhennie Villar, dean and program chairperson at a local university, believes AI has already changed Philippine education — but with limits. 'Karaniwan, ginagamit ito bilang gabay pero hindi bilang sagot sa kabuuan kasi kailangan pa rin natin ng critical thinking, kailangan pa rin natin na mag-aral… (Usually, it's used as a guide, not as the entire answer, because we still need critical thinking — we still need to study),' she said. She said in their university, AI-generated content is limited to 15% of undergraduate theses and research papers. Detection tools are also in place to prevent misuse. Meanwhile, teacher's group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) acknowledged that cellphones and tablets are already part of daily classroom realities, especially in public schools where traditional learning materials are lacking. ACT National Capital Region president Ruby Bernardo explained that teachers and students alike turn to digital devices to access supplemental learning content such as YouTube videos and online modules. AI tools, now increasingly accessible to both students and teachers, can help in tasks like translation and cultural research, according to Bernardo. She, however, noted the challenge lies in guiding students on how to use them responsibly. —Sherylin Untalan/AOL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
01-07-2025
- GMA Network
This student is building an AI app to help farmers address crop issues
Immersing himself in the life of farmers, and listening to the stories of his uncle in the province led Ateneo de Manila University student Soj Gamayon to build an AI app that could help farmers detect issues in their crops and address the problem. "Iba pa pala 'yung hirap ng you're already putting in so much time and effort tas 'di mo pa mapapabalik 'yung ani mo because of conditions you can't control or you didn't control fast enough," the communications Technology management major told GMA News Online in an interview. Armed with his student exchange program experience at the National University of Singapore and an internship at a Vietnam startup company catering farmers, Gayamon was more than up to look for solutions. "Merging that experience from Singapore and then that personal story once I got back home, that kind of inspired the story of AgriConnect. And what it does really is helping these agribusinesses manage these risks," he added. Called the AgriConnect PH, the AI app helps farmers become more strategic "so that no harvest is left to chance," he said. "It's a lot of trying to be more strategic with farming versus just guessing and just relying on intuition, especially since these conditions now in the world are very much unpredictable. You don't know when it's going to rain. You don't know when El Nino heat hits you. So a lot of these things," the student said. The AgriConnect PH AI app works in three segments: collecting the data, interpreting on the data, and acting on the data. A "more sensitive and smarter" type of sensor will be put around the corners of the land looking into three risks: water levels, moisture, pests and insects. The data is then sent into a cloud, where data is stored, which is then sent to the app with AI interpreting the data collected. Farmers will have three signals: Green means normal, yellow means moderate which tells you what to focus on, and red means there are serious risks, giving instructions how to handle the situation. The app can give updates on the crops at least twice a day on an "as-needed basis" depending on the time set by the farmers. "But obviously, if there's really an immediate risk, then that would have a separate notification for farmers to act on," he said. As of writing, the AgriConnect PH app can accommodate cereal crops such as rice, corn, among others. They are planning to scale higher on high-value crops like vegetables and livestocks. Through the app, Gamayon hopes to streamline the process of farming so farmers can grow more crops with no money going to waste. "Sometimes these farms have different scales, and sometimes masyado nang marami [yung problema] and the farmer can't act on it fast enough," the student said. "We're trying to make our farmers more proactive rather than reactive to the risks that are within the farm," he added. While they are still in the process of developing the technology by talking to stakeholders and institutions, Gamayon hopes people will embrace technology use in agriculture, stressing the industry's importance to society. "It's high time that we embrace the idea of technology. And that technology just goes beyond the tractor. Data exists now as a way for us to elevate farming. ... and the fact that we're actually having more technological advancements, we can produce more efficiently," he said. "If technology bridges that gap for agriculture —at least man lang there's a fighting chance to elevate agriculture in the Philippines. I hope the word gets out there for farmers to also see that there's a future through technology with agriculture." — LA, GMA Integrated News
