Fake AI-Generated Papal Address Sparks Controversy on Social Media
Vatican City – A dubious 36-minute video falsely portraying Pope Leo XIV delivering a message to Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré has emerged on YouTube, stirring confusion and concern. The address begins with an AI-generated greeting, purportedly from the Pope, that highlights Traoré as a defender of his nation.
The video, titled "Pope Leo XIV responds to Captain Ibrahim Traoré – A Message of Truth, Justice & Reconciliation," has been uploaded by the account "Pan African Dreams." It employs advanced morphing technology to sync the Pope’s lip movements with the artificially created dialogue, leading viewers to mistakenly believe in a legitimate interaction between the Pope and Traoré.
In the fabricated speech, the Pope is made to express admiration for Traoré, going so far as to describe his sentiments as embodying "the righteous cry of a continent long wounded." However, this portrayal is a significant distortion of reality, as Vatican News has confirmed that all official communications from Pope Leo XIV are documented and accessible through the Vatican’s official channels.
The falsified video, which has been addressed in media reports including BBC News, raises critical questions about the spread of misinformation. Notably, it features repetitive imagery of the Pope and static documents, revealing its misleading nature.
The Vatican encourages the public to refer to its official sources for authentic communications and updates from the Pope, which are readily available at vatican.va. With the rise of AI-generated content, such incidents underline the urgency for vigilance against digital misinformation in an increasingly interconnected world.
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