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https://www.productionai.institute/graph/events/evt-aiid-1355

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Production AI Institute public record · wired.com: Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams · observed 2026-01-05
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wired.com: Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams

Religious communities in the U.S. and abroad reported the circulation of purportedly AI-generated videos and cloned audio impersonating pastors and church leaders, including Father Mike Schmitz, to solicit donations and spread incendiary sermons. The impersonations reportedly leveraged synthetic voice and likeness tools and were distributed via platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and messaging apps. Some content remained unlabeled as AI-generated and was treated as authentic…

AI Incident Database · Incident 1355

Operator lens (medium): inspect D2 (output validation), D7 (tool permissions), D8 (provider fallback).

Confidence
78%
Sources
2
Entities
12
Detected
detected 195d ago

Event summary

Religious communities in the U.S. and abroad reported the circulation of purportedly AI-generated videos and cloned audio impersonating pastors and church leaders, including Father Mike Schmitz, to solicit donations and spread incendiary sermons. The impersonations reportedly leveraged synthetic voice and likeness tools and were distributed via platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and messaging apps. Some content remained unlabeled as AI-generated and was treated as authentic…

D2D7D8

Linked entities

  • deepfake-technology-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • synthetic-audio-generation-technology-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • unknown-scammers-impersonating-religious-figures

    organisation | 70%

  • scammers

    organisation | 70%

  • mike-schmitz

    organisation | 70%

  • religious-leaders

    organisation | 70%

  • religious-institutions

    organisation | 70%

  • religious-communities

    organisation | 70%

  • churches

    organisation | 70%

  • congregants

    organisation | 70%

  • general-public

    organisation | 70%

  • epistemic-integrity

    organisation | 70%

Related graph edges

EdgeTypeConfidence
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d7maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d7maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d7maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-aiid-deepfake-technology-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%

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Event dates

  • Happened 5 Jan 2026

  • Detected 5 Jan 2026

Sources

  • AI Deepfakes Are Impersonating Pastors to Try to Scam Their Congregations

    secondary | checked 5 Jan 2026

    Open source
  • AI Incident Database - Incident 1355

    secondary | checked 9 July 2026

    Open source
Cite this record

"wired.com: Reported AI Impersonations of Pastors Used in Online Donation and Influence Scams." https://www.productionai.institute/graph/events/evt-aiid-1355 (observed 2026-01-05; retrieved 2026-07-19). PAI.

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