The Deception of AI
Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness
By Everett Wayne Baum
I am amazed at what I see on the news and on my phone these days. Videos of a President falling down. Videos of leaders being shot at. Political scenes that never happened. And the quality is so good that you would swear they were real.
They are not real. Many of them are made by computers, using what is called artificial intelligence, or AI. And a great many people are believing them and passing them on.
What Is Happening
On July 24 of this year, a video spread online that seemed to show the President falling as he got into his car. It carried a banner across the top that said "BREAKING NOW." Thousands of people saw it. But it never happened. Fact-checkers found no news report of any fall, and tools built to catch computer-made video rated it very likely fake. It came from an account that called itself a humor page.
That is only one example. Fake videos have been made of leaders on every side, of both parties, of people in power and people with no power at all. This is not about which side you are on. It is about lies.
Most of Us Cannot Tell
A study this year tested a thousand Americans to see if they could tell a real video from a fake one. On average, people did about as well as a coin toss. In one test, seven out of ten people believed the fake was real. And here is the part that troubles me most: about half of the people believed they could spot a fake. They were confident, and they were wrong.
If you have ever thought, "I would know a fake when I see one," I thought so too. We need to be humble about this.
What the Word Says
None of this surprises the Word of God. Jesus called the devil "a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). Deception has been his work from the garden until now. What is new is only the tool.
The commandment has not changed: "Thou shalt not bear false witness" (Exodus 20:16). And just a few chapters later, the Law goes further: "Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness" (Exodus 23:1). When we pass along something false, even if we did not make it, we have put our hand to a false report. That should give every believer pause before pressing the share button.
Scripture also tells us how to protect ourselves. "The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going" (Proverbs 14:15). And John wrote, "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). We are told to test things, not to swallow them whole.
Jesus warned that deception would grow in the last days: "Take heed that no man deceive you" (Matthew 24:4). I believe we are watching that warning come to life on our screens.
The Second Danger
There is a danger even deeper than believing a lie. A professor who studies fake images has warned that once people know anything could be faked, they begin to doubt everything, even what is true. Anyone caught on video doing wrong can simply say, "That's AI." In his words, "then nothing has to be real."
That is the devil's oldest trick. In the garden he did not only tell a lie. He made Eve doubt the truth: "Yea, hath God said?" (Genesis 3:1). When people can no longer tell what is real, they stop believing anything, and that includes the truth of God's Word.
How to Protect Yourself
Here are a few simple things anyone can do before believing or sharing a shocking video:
Ask whether real news is reporting it. If a President fell, every news outlet in the country would have it within the hour.
Be careful of "BREAKING" banners on shocking clips from accounts you have never heard of.
Look closely at faces, teeth, skin and hands. Fakes often look too smooth, or blurry, or the features shift and change.
Watch the background. Things that bend, melt or do not make sense are warning signs.
If it makes you angry or afraid, wait. Fakes are built to stir you up so you will share them before you think.
When in doubt, do not share it. Silence is never a false witness.
The Tool Is Not the Sin
I want to be honest with you. I use AI myself. The voice you hear in my videos is a copy of my own voice, made with a computer program, and my songs are made with AI tools. Every time I post, I mark it as made with AI, so no one is fooled.
That is the difference. A hammer can build a house or break a window. The tool is not the sin. The lie is the sin. AI used honestly, and labeled honestly, can carry the Word of God to people who would never open a book. AI used to deceive is doing the work of the father of lies.
A Closing Word
We cannot stop the flood of fakes. But we can decide not to be carried along by it. We can slow down, test what we see, and refuse to pass along what we cannot trust.
And in a world where it is harder every day to know what is true, there is one thing that will not change: "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). Anchor yourself there, and no fake video can move you.
To the Lord Jesus Christ be all the glory.