A stylish Pope Francis became the topic of conversation recently after images of the pontiff wearing a white puffer jacket began circulating online, bringing in fashion-related compliments.
While the images were taken as a light-hearted joke by some, cybersecurity expert Chester Wisniewski warns eerily convincing AI-generated photos could further exacerbate misinformation. Today however, the technology has improved incredibly quickly, making these red-flags not easily distinguishable to an everyday online user.
Fears of AI fakery aren’t new. For several years, we have faced the threat of deepfaked images of people’s faces, produced by earlier generations of AI trained on smaller volumes of information, but they have frequently had telltale signs of fakery, such as non-blinking eyes or blurred ears. Midjourney still struggles with hands, often adding additional fingers, but when confronted by an image where hands aren’t the focus, such as the AI pope, people can be fooled.