On May 16, a 36 minute YouTube video was uploaded to the YouTube account "Pan African Dreams" containing a fabricated AI generated speech from Pope Leo XIV ostensibly to the President of Burkina Faso. The video was built from actual footage of Leo addressing journalists on May 12. The video used a "morphing" technique, whereby the lips of the pontiff are made to match the AI generated words.
The BBC News Afrique broke the story on the deepfakes on May 15; a few days later, the Vatican News service issued its own warning and disclaimer about the fake video, denyting the authenticity of the alleged statements and reminding Catholics that authentic statements of the pope can always be found on vaticannews.va and the website of L'Osservatore Romano.
This little incident serves as a reminder that the Vatican communications people are fully capable of responding immediately to call out false statements when it is proven that the pope did not say something he is alleged to have said. If the pope truly didn't say something, they possess the resources and willingness to issue a denial immediately.
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