The Viral Photo That Was Not Real
A photo of Pope Francis wearing a trendy white puffy jacket went viral on social media recently. It received more than 20 million views, likes and shares from viewers who applauded the Pope for his fashion-forward outfit. However, the picture turned out to be a deepfake – an image manipulated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Twitter flagged the photo with a warning label below the tweet stating that the images were generated by AI and were not real. The alleged AI artist behind these photoshopped images identified as Pablo Xavier, a 31-year-old construction worker from Chicago.
Pablo Xavier created these images while tripping on shrooms. He first shared them on AI Art Universe Facebook Group and then on Reddit, eventually reaching peak exposure on Twitter. He was shocked when the images went viral and did not want them to blow up like that.
Impact of Synthetic Media on Shaping Our Perceptions of Reality
This recent incidence brings to light the impact of synthetic media on shaping our perceptions of reality. Synthetic media, including hyperrealistic images of famous people doing weird, funny or disturbing things generated by AI art tools like Midjourney, has been treated as a fakenews bogeyman by some, but is already shaping our perceptions of reality.
People use different heuristics to try to suss out truth when receiving new information including plausibility and style. Hallucinated images depicting big events that never took place work differently than conspiracy theories and are less hard to disprove.
Synthetic media needs to cast doubt on or misframe accurate reporting on real news events in order to deceive people in high-stakes news environments. This could eventually scramble our brains and make fact-finding more complex.
The First Real Mass-Level AI Misinformation Case
The news of the fake image’s creation is being called the “first real mass-level AI misinformation case.” Successive technologies, from the internet to social media to artificial intelligence, have each targeted different information-processing heuristics and cheapened them in succession, making us less resilient and eroding what makes us human.
Large language models that manipulate style have a tendency to link to authority, authenticity, and expertise. This could lead to us becoming less able to discern between fact and fiction, as well as contributing to a future where AI-generated images are widespread.
Who Is Pablo Xavier?
Pablo Xavier grew up in a Catholic family and while he doesn’t feel part of the religion today, he has “no ill will toward” Pope Francis. He started using Midjourney after the death of one of his brothers in November, using it as a way to deal with grief and create images of his past brother.
Xavier declined to share his last name over fears that he could be attacked for creating the images. He has sparked an important debate around synthetic media that needs exploring further as we move into an AI-dominated world.
In conclusion, deepfake images and artificially created content have made headlines recently with many warning about the dangers of using someone’s name and likeness to create a false reality. Synthetic media is not demanding strict scrutiny and is being perceived as low-stakes news event. This opens doors for further unethical manipulation which could damage society’s ability to discern truth from fiction.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
