Pope Francis 'Drippy As Hell' Image Gets Elon Musk's Attention, Breaks Internet ... But Is It Real?

Have you seen the photo of Pope Francis wearing a gigantic white puffer jacket? It’s going viral on Reddit and Twitter — but is it real or fake? 

What Happened: The image was shared on Reddit before making its way to other social media platforms, especially Twitter. It was created by Midjourney, an artificial intelligence or AI tool that can generate seemingly realistic but fake images. 

See Also: Putin’s War In Ukraine Fueled By ‘Imperial Interests, Not Just Of The Russian Empire,’ Says Pope Francis, Calling For Peace

Simply put: NO, it’s not a REAL photograph but an AI-generated image. 

But that didn’t stop netizens from swooning over Pope Francis’s “drippy as hell” fashion choice. 

Elon Musk also reacted to this AI-generated fake image of the Pope.  

Midjourney is an AI application with robust capabilities to create visuals based on textual descriptions called “prompts.”

The AI tool was previously used to create images of former U.S. President Donald Trump getting arrested. Trump also shared a fake AI-generated picture of himself kneeling to pray, reported Forbes. 

Why It’s Important: While this viral image has been widely circulated as a fake image, many people still assume it is a real photograph — which highlights the bigger concern about AI being abused by some parties. 

Earlier this month, several users across ads for a deepfake app that showed “Harry Potter” fame Emma Watson’s face being swapped onto a suggestive video. A few female Twitch streamers also shared similar issues.

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