Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is seeing an increasing number of scammers utilizing the technology. 

With AI image generators, you can type in a few words describing the image you want to be created, and the AI generates an image based on your text. It’s valuable technology, but an investigator with the Better Business Bureau says scammers can abuse it to create images to back up their stories, products, or outright lies. Don O’Brien says these images can be surprisingly realistic.

Just because something is shared widely on social media does not mean it’s real. For example, an AI-generated photo of Pope Francis in a designer puffer jacket recently went viral. A deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy telling his soldiers to surrender was also widely circulated on social media. O’ Brien reminds you should always do your due diligence before you purchase or reshare something you saw on social media.