Holy Phony! Viral AI Image of Pope Francis in Balenciaga Is the Devil of Deep Fakes

If you read George Orwell’s “1984,” you might remember this line: "the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their most essential command.” These days, it seems you should at least be skeptical.

The viral image of Pope Francis in a Balenciaga puffer jacket has gone viral but the photo is a deep fake created by a construction worker in Chicago who used AI.

If you read George Orwell’s “1984,” you might remember this line: "the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.  It was their most essential command.” These days, it seems you should at least be skeptical.

Digital artist Nick St. Pierre showed Inside Edition how the fake pope pic was created by using an artificial intelligence image generator called "Midjourney.”

He said he called up images of the pope walking in the street and then asked the program to make it look as if the pontiff was walking in Brooklyn, New York, in a Gucci coat. After making the commands, the program did the rest.

Other AI generated images have surfaced that made people think that they were real had come directly from the headlines as former President Donald Trump faces a plethora of legal battles: images of him being arrested or sobbing in court have showed up online but were totally fake.

Images of Melania screaming for her husband also surfaced and those were generated by AI as well.

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