We almost believed this. Artificial Intelligence got us good this round!
An image of Pope Francis wearing a puffy white coat went viral on Twitter. The photograph shows the religious figure wearing the hell out of a puffy white coat and looking very fashionable. A lot apparently believed it was a real image (including us)-- not really questioning why the Pope would decide to walk the streets in a fashionable statement.
The image was created using Midjourney v5, an AI image synthesis model. After being released on the Internet (and having fooled people, including us), Twitter attached a reader-added context warning to the tweet. "This is an AI-generated image of Pope Francis. It is not a genuine photo," the text read.
The Verge actually broke down the details of the viral image in a successful attempt to prove that it was false. They raise that if you zoom in on the details, some signs of image synthesis in warped details. These include the pope's crucifix necklace, and the crooked shadow of his glasses, among the few.
It still looks fairly realistic though. Does it mean that it’s time for the Vatican to update its outerwear? Just kidding!
Image credit: skyferrori/Twitter