Enlarge / A cropped portion of an AI-generated image of Pope Francis wearing a puffy coat that went viral in March 2023.
Following the widespread circulation of a realistic AI-generated image of Pope Francis in a puffy coat on social media last year, the Pope himself appears to have taken notice, as reported by Reuters. In a message for the 58th World Day of Social Communications, Francis raises concerns about the long-standing issue of disinformation in the form of fake news, which now includes the use of ‘deepfakes,’ the creation and spread of false but realistic-looking images (I too have been a target of this).”
The Pope also expresses alarm regarding audio messages that “use a person’s voice to say things which that person never said.” He elaborates, “The technology of simulation behind these programs can be beneficial in certain specific fields, but it becomes harmful when it distorts our relationships with others and with reality.”
In March 2023, a Twitter user named “skyferrori” used the Midjourney v5 image synthesis service to produce a convincing fake photo of Pope Francis wearing a long white puffer coat and shared it on the platform. The image quickly went viral and has since garnered over 197,000 likes and 28.1 million views. Many individuals believed it to be a genuine photo, and it was notable at the time for being one of the earliest AI-generated images that deceived a large online audience.
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“I was having this discussion with a friend, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it was fake,” commented “thrillgore” on the Ars Technica forums. “I thought it was real even though earlier in the day I had read that Pope Francis is a frugal fella, and doesn’t flaunt the wealth of the Vatican… It was funny yesterday, now it’s absolutely horrifying.”
Since the debut of Stable Diffusion in 2022, we have frequently addressed concerns around deepfakes and their potential to undermine social trust, diminish the quality of information online, fuel online harassment, and potentially disrupt historical records. This remains an unresolved issue, with watermarking technology often regarded as unreliable and metadata-tagging projects not yet widely supported. Ultimately, our ability to trust what we see online will hinge on how much we trust the source.
“The development of artificial intelligence systems, which I addressed in my recent Message for the World Day of Peace, is significantly impacting the world of information and communication and consequently altering certain foundations of life in society,” the Pope cautions. “These changes affect everyone, not just professionals in these fields. The rapid dissemination of remarkable innovations, whose operations and potential are beyond the comprehension and appreciation of most individuals, has proven to be both thrilling and disorienting.”
