Internet users have been tricked again by Artificial Intelligence. And they are not even mad because of how impressive the trick was.
If you spent your fair share of time on the internet recently, you probably saw a photo of Pope Francis in a stylish white puffer jacket. And you were probably impressed with Pope’s fashion choices, as have many people around the world. But the photo that fooled almost everyone turned out to be created by Chicago native Pablo Xavier with the help of an AI program Midjourney.
The Pope Drip
by in midjourney
If you fell for the photo, don’t worry; even the celebrities like Crissy Teigen thought it was real.
After the word about the photo’s authenticity spread around, BuzzFeed News reached out to the original creator to learn more about his process. Pablo Xavier told the media outlet that he was trying to think of new ideas to test midjourney and that Pope Francis in a stylish jacket seemed cool.
“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,” he shared.
Pablo Xavier also pointed out that he didn’t intend to offend anyone, and his work doesn’t contain any hidden messages. He just thought it was a cool idea.
So there you have it. AI is obviously capable of producing much more convincing works than we thought it was possible. On the one hand, its capability is cool. But on the other, it will surely make us question things we see on the internet even more.
