Real or AI? : The Viral Images of Pope Francis & Trump Arrest That Never Happened

So you’re scrolling through your social media homepage. As you swipe through posts, you come across some mind-boggling pictures that you never thought you’d see for yourself. A picture of Pope Francis wearing a trendy Balenciaga puffer jacket? A photo of former President Donald Trump being arrested by the FBI?! My eyes must be playing tricks on me, you think to yourself, but you look at the pictures again. But, what if it’s real? So you try to dig deeper and you find out that it’s not real. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. The pictures caused a stir on the internet, with many people initially believing that they were real. But it wasn’t long before the truth prevailed: they were the result of cutting-edge AI technology.

Those pictures look so real! How were they even created?

Well, the people who created the images as a parody confirmed that they were produced using MidJourney which is an AI text-to-image generator. The technology behind these images is known as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), which can create hyper-realistic images of people, objects, and even entire landscapes that don’t actually exist. That’s right, you can create faux-images of any scenario that you’d like. Cool but creepy, don’t you think?

In the case of the viral images of Pope Francis and Donald Trump, it’s clear that the AI-generated fakes were successful in fooling many people. However, if you pay attention to the details, you can easily spot their flaws. For instance, the pope’s glasses seem to blend into the shadows on his face, while Trump’s arms and neck just look a bit off. Although their skin looks a bit waxy, at first glance, many people believed these pictures were real.

But why did these images go viral in the first place?

One theory is that the images tapped into our fascination with the unexpected and the absurd. The idea of the Pope, a figure traditionally associated with conservatism and tradition, wearing a high-fashion puffer jacket is inherently funny and unexpected. Similarly, the image of Donald Trump being arrested by the FBI is a satisfying reversal of fortune for those who have criticized the former president’s behavior.

While these viral images may seem like harmless fun, there’s actually a darker side to them.

As AI-generated fakes become more sophisticated, they have the potential to be used to spread disinformation and propaganda on a massive scale. We’ve already seen instances of deepfakes being used to manipulate public opinion and spread fake news, and the scary thing is: it’s likely that this trend will only continue. In 2022, Europol Innovation Lab released a report titled ‘Facing Reality? Law enforcement and the challenge of deepfakes’, which draws conclusions of deepfakes’ potential use in serious crimes such as CEO fraud, evidence tampering, and the production of non-consensual pornography.

What can we do to protect ourselves from the disruptive power of AI-generated fakes? 

Well, one solution is to develop better tools for detecting them. Researchers are already working on developing algorithms that can detect deepfakes with a high degree of accuracy, and it’s likely that these tools will become more widely available in the future. With continued efforts to improve deepfake detection and awareness, there is hope for reducing the harmful impact of deepfakes and protecting against their potential misuse.

At the end of the day, it’s really up to us to be careful and think critically about the images and information we come across online. These days, it’s getting harder and harder to tell what’s real and what’s not, as we’ve seen with viral images of people like Pope Francis and Donald Trump. But if we approach things with a bit of skepticism and use our critical thinking skills, we can still navigate the world of synthetic media with confidence. Let’s stay alert & stay curious!

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