I honestly like your closing remark, it's a lot to take from. Reading through your article is a reminder to me to get tech savvy because AI being in the scope it's hard to differentiate real from fake.
Just try to recall deep face technology at it's finest, which it is fast approaching, that's a huge factor that can convince anyone, the internet is scary as it is, but nevertheless there would always be loopholes we just have to be trained to see it. The most important thing is focus as you have stated.
Always be skeptical of links, emails and anything that you weren't expecting to arrive.