Cardinal Leo and now Pope Leo—that’s not confusing now, is it? I’ll tell you what’s really confusing: Pope Leo all over the Internet saying things he never said. Please tell me you are not one of the millions, yes millions, who fell for the recent A.I.-generated videos that had Pope Leo appointing Cardinal Sarah and others to various new posts. Not only that, they had the Pope praising militant Islamist groups currently slaughtering Christians in Africa. 

I get it. So much media today looks the same, with blaring yellow headlines, three exclamation points and thumbnail photos of shocked-looking faces—whether or not it’s true or false. But you don’t need a Masters in Media Literacy Education (like I have) to spot a fake, at least not yet, anyway. I’m as eager as the next Catholic for news about our new Holy Father, but as soon as I stumbled across this bogus clickbait, I knew it wasn’t real. How did I know? There were many tells. Here are some tips to recognizing fallacious information:

• It’s a new channel that popped up overnight
• the channel/account name is weird or slightly off (e.g., God blood, Jesus Truth, His loves for you)
• The account name doesn’t match the content (e.g., “Investing Mania” posting about theology)  
• Sometimes multiple spin-offs will pop up in a row (POPE LEO’S WORDS, POPE LEO’S SERMONS, WORDS OF POPE LEO XIV), and they will always use popular faces and names that the algorithm thinks you might like: (e.g., there are many fake Fr. Mark Goring and Thomas Sowell accounts)
• An A.I. voice is exclusively used (you will never see a real person or hear a real voice) along with sloppy, mismatched A.I. images/video inelegantly following in choppy succession
• Since A.I. is basically a thief (with no truly original content), you might see a clip from an authentic news outlet (with a real human voice) sown into the fabrication to try to lend it some credibility
• You will be given intimate and maudlin details that no one could possibly know (for example, a private phone conversation between public figures, replete with emotional responses)
• The content may start out orthodox enough but midway through, strange and erroneous statements will be made, and then back to truthful information (a lie sandwich);some legitimate content creators are now having their quality audio content stolen, rehashed with A.I. voiceovers and new visuals (I must admit I briefly fell for one of these channels)

However, as A.I. exponentially improves itself, it will be harder and harder to spot its chicanery. Some of my most intelligent friends--with theology degrees, who work full time for the Church--are falling for nonsense online. This is not okay and it’s only going to get worse. If you’re not on social media platforms often and only dabble…that’s a problem. It’s a jungle out there. The subtleties and nuances of these media languages are shifting daily and, like it or not, we have to keep up if we want to be serious media mavens, or even just a well-informed populace and member of the Body of Christ. 

One thing I always do before I engage with media (which is at intentional, regimented times and places) is to pray to the Holy Spirit for discernment (aka His gift of “counsel”). I also pray that I will not be greedy for knowledge I don’t need (a big pitfall of mine!)

There have been "Catholic" A.I. channels/accounts proliferating for several years now (is A.I. itself proliferating them?) They are so whack-a-mole-ish that I stopped trying to block them. The safest thing is to just follow the same vetted, talking head, live-broadcast folks’ (real human beings) accounts, channels and outlets you have always followed (including trusted print channels like CR!) 

Stay rooted in reality and spend ample time offline talking to family, friends and neighbours (preferably ones that do not have their noses in their phones 24/7). Prognosticators tell us that in the future, we will need to rely more and more on a trust-based economy.

Ironically, one of the first things Pope Leo identified as a looming problem in our world is A.I.  Perhaps A.I. was mad and exacting revenge? Just kidding. A.I. is not conscious and never will be, unless you’re referring to the documented demonic infiltration of A.I. at times, and digital media in general. Stay vigilant, my friends. The Father of Lies just might be a tech bro.

Sr. Helena Raphael Burns, fsp, is a Daughter of St. Paul. She holds a Masters in Media Literacy Education and studied screenwriting at UCLA. HellBurns.com  X/Twitter: @srhelenaburns  #medianuns MediaApostle.com  Instagram: @medianunscanada