How can we know what is real if we can no longer trust our senses?

AI and Perception

There are many things in our world that exist purely for deception or taking advantage of certain characteristics common to us all. Propaganda can create a false ideal or insert enough ambiguity to make knowing the truth about a situation to stressful or difficult to discern. The Development of AI has made this all the more difficult. Media companies regularly use underhanded method to collect data and sell it to advertisers and governments. How can we as Catholics navigate such an environment? People can only detect about 62% of AI generated images in areas that areas where we expect to find some. Only about 30% of us can find AI images in places we don’t expect, especially in landscape or urban environments. Social media makes its money by keeping our attention, collecting our info and selling it to advertisers. This works because of similar principles in other areas of life. The major grocery stores like Walmart and Wegmans sell a variety of different things while moving things like dairy and other necessities to the back of the store. The reason for this is because the more time you spend in the store the more likely you are to buy things you didn’t intend. This principle can be taken advantage of with ads and social media websites and apps. The more time you spend on social media, the more ads you see, the more ads you see the more likely you are to buy something. Truth, your health and attention are being constantly sold to the highest bidder. These companies have one goal that is to make money off of the information they take from you. So how can we as Catholics figure out what is true in such an environment? Over senses are easily decieved into taking the path of least resistance and this hurts our ability to see the truth of a situation.

Navigating the ambiguities of life

The best way to navigate a situation where the truth of the matter is ambiguous the best thing to do is to fall back on strong first principle. By giving voice to such basic truths as the Law of non-contradiction, you shall know them by their fruits, and other basic truths. If we are in a situation were emotions run high the best thing to is to back up and remind yourself of basic truths and the facts concerning the situation that are beyond a doubt. Once this is done you can dispassionately discern the truth of the situation. Reason dies when your emotions are given the driver’s seat. Avoid logical pitfalls, like personal insults and people who argue using them regularly. Don’t assume because one event happens it caused another. Take regular breaks from social media or the internet. Never assume someone is being malicious when ignorance is more likely to be the case. These basic truths can serve as your method to navigation any area of life including your digital life. God Gave us minds to think and we are responsible for how we think because how think greatly affects how we treat others. Are our thoughts like Christ? If not what needs to change? Don’t forget to pray every day because every day we need God to give us the strength to endure the hardships of life and their ambiguities. If you are tired of the digital world taking up your time and energy, then give yourself time to rest away from such things. God created the world, lets appreciate the beauty he made for us to take care of.

Always remember the truth will set you free. So it is worth it to look for it.

sources

Thomas Roca Microsoft AI for Good Lab & Anthony Cintron Roman Microsoft AI for Good Lab & Jehú Torres Vega Microsoft AI for Good Lab & Marcelo Duarte Microsoft AI for Good Lab &  Pengce Wang Microsoft AI for Good Lab & Kevin White Microsoft AI for Good L. How good are humans at detecting AI-generated images? learnings from an experiment. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://arxiv.org/html/2507.18640v1.

Think you can spot ai? think again: 70% of workers get it wrong. Accessed March 18, 2026. https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/ai-detection-confidence.