Al-generated Pope Sermons Flood YouTube, TikTok

AI-generated videos and audios of Pope Leo XIV are populating rapidly online, racking up views as platforms struggle to police them.

- (By: Bill McCarthy/AFP)

An AFP investigation identified dozens of YouTube and TikTok pages that have been churning out Al-generated messages delivered in the pope's voice or otherwise attributed to him since he took charge of the Catholic Church in May.

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.