the holy un-see — Immaculate AI images of Pope Francis trick the masses Faux puffy pontiff AI image fools many in viral social media post.
Benj Edwards – Mar 27, 2023 9:41 pm UTC Enlarge / An AI-generated photo of Pope Francis wearing a puffy white coat that went viral on social media.@skyferrori on Twitter reader comments 127 with Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit
Over the weekend, an AI-generated image of Pope Francis wearing a puffy white coat went viral on Twitter, and apparently many people believed it was a real image. Since then, the puffy pontiff has inspired commentary on the deceptive nature of AI-generated images, which are now nearly photorealistic. Further ReadingAI-faked images of Donald Trumps imagined arrest swirl on Twitter
The pope image, created using Midjourney v5 (an AI image synthesis model), first appeared in a tweet by a user named Leon (@skyferrori ) on Saturday and quickly began circulating as part of other meme tweets featuring similar images as well, including one that humorously speculates about a pope “lifestyle brand.”
OKAAYYY pic.twitter.com/MliHsksX7L leon (@skyferrori) March 25, 2023
Not long after, Twitter attached a reader-added context warning to the tweet that reads, “This is an AI-generated image of Pope Francis. It is not a genuine photo. ”
As noted in our piece on last week’s AI-generated Donald Trump arrest photos, Twitter guidelines state that users “may not deceptively share synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm.” Although in this case, the line between harm and parody might be a fuzzy one.
How do we know the image is fake? Aside from a Reddit post containing alternative images of the Pope from the person that likely made it, The Verge breaks down the evidence fairly well in a piece analyzing the impact of the false image. For example, if you zoom in on details, you’ll see telltale signs of image synthesis in warped details like the pope’s crucifix necklace, the crooked shadow of his glasses, and whatever he is carrying in his hand (a cup?). Advertisement
What would be the name of the Pope Francis lifestyle brand? pic.twitter.com/PQf8ogP3PD Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) March 25, 2023
But still, upon a quick glance, the false photo (“fauxto”?) looks fairly realistic. And as The Verge notes, a stylish image of Pope Francis plays into our beliefs about the papacy, which often involves wild non-fake imageryalthough Pope Francis is known for his “humble” outfits. A Midjourney journey
The image service used to create the fake photo, Midjourney, debuted last year. Along with DALL-E and Stable Diffusion, it’s one of three major image synthesis models that have become popular online. All three allow users to generate novel images using only text descriptions called “prompts.” Enlarge / Our experiments with “Pope Francis in a 1990s white puffer jacket,” created using Midjourney v5.Midjourney
In this case, the prompt used to create the puffy pope photo might have been as simple as “Pope Francis in a puffy white coat” because Midjourney has made huge leaps in photorealism recently, rendering complex scenes full of details from relatively simple prompts.
What this almost effortless capability to fake photos means for the future of media is still uncertain, but as we’ve speculated before, due to image synthesis, we may never be able to believe what we see online again. reader comments 127 with Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Benj Edwards Benj Edwards is an AI and Machine Learning Reporter for Ars Technica. For over 16 years, he has written about technology and tech history for sites such as The Atlantic, Fast Company, PCMag, PCWorld, Macworld, How-To Geek, and Wired. In 2005, he created Vintage Computing and Gaming. He also hosted The Culture of Tech podcast and contributes to Retronauts. Mastodon: benjedwards@mastodon.social Twitter @benjedwards Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars