Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, recently became the focus of a few AI images, which pictured him wearing luxury clothing.
An image of the 86-year-old pontiff wearing a long, white puffer jacket created by upscale fashion house Balenciaga took over the internet.
Netizens praised the religious leader for his stylish decision, believing the image to be as accurate as the Bible itself.
According to Buzzfeed News, Pablo Xavier, a 31-year-old construction worker from the Chicago region, has been named as the alleged creator of the image.
In a statement, he recalled, “It just dawned on me: I should do the Pope. Then it was just coming like water: ‘The Pope in Balenciaga puffy coat, Moncler, walking the streets of Rome, Paris,’ stuff like that.”
The meme maker said that after finishing his project, he posted the “perfect” images to Reddit and the AI Art Universe Facebook Group. But once it appeared on Twitter, the picture really took off.
Pope Francis addressed the emergence of AI technology and urged scientists to examine its human impact (without specifically referring to the furore over his own appearance being faked).
According to AP, while the ability to manipulate photos and create fake images isn’t new, AI image generator tools by Midjourney, DALL-E and others are easier to use.
In one widely-circulating Twitter thread, Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based investigative journalism collective, used the latest version of the tool to conjure up scores of dramatic images of Donald Trump’s fictional arrest.
Misinformation experts warn the images are harbingers of a new reality: waves of fake visuals flooding social media after major news events and further muddying fact and fiction at crucial times for society
Higgins suggests social media companies could focus on developing technology to detect AI-generated images and integrate that into their platforms.