Beware AI scammers

The use of artificial intelligence to scam Americans is a growing problem.

Hi there, This is America readers, I'm Phillip M. Bailey, chief political correspondent with USA TODAY.

Like every technological innovation AI going to be used for virtuous and nefarious things, but in terms of criminal activity experts say the scale and sophistication of fraud has accelerated.

A new report by TransUnion found 1 in 6 U.S. consumers said they lost money to digital fraud in the form of email, online, phone call or text messaging scams in the last year. The median reported loss was $2,307 with online dating sites seeing a 7% increase while nearly 1 in 10 U.S. transactions on gaming sites were flagged for digital fraud.

This is catching the attention of some in Congress, such as Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who wants voice cloning companies such as ElevenLabs, LOVO, Speechify and VEED to provide details on how they're helping to stop scammers.

For more on the AI, check out USA Today's coverage:

How AI is making travel scams nearly impossible to spot: A WhatsApp message nearly fooled a retired federal agent

Fraud is on the rise. Blame AI

The new age of AI travel scams: Watch what to be aware of.

Trump vs. the Pope

Speaking of AI, the president used a generated image showing him being embraced by Jesus as his ongoing feud with Pope Leo XIV troubles allies for both world leaders.

Trump's supporters are hoping this dies down after the president castigated the world's first American pontiff as "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy" before saying was "not a big fan" of the religious leader.

All of this started because Leo has spoken sharply against the U.S.-Israeli led war against Iran. Most recently during an April 16 speech in Cameroon, the pontiff decried how the world is "being ravaged by a handful of tyrants."

Several conservative-leaning Catholic leaders have publicly called on Trump to apologize – which the president rebuffed – while Vice President JD Vance, a recent convert, told Leo to "be careful" when discussing religion.

Historically the pope is viewed as an honest broker in terms of international diplomacy that is at odds with a sitting president's worldview, but experts say there has never been a clash so public or personal.