For the Pope, it was the wrong Virgin.
The pop legend, herself from the 80s anthem Like a Prayer, has sparked controversy in recent weeks by posting deepfake images on social media showing the pontiff hugging her. It has fanned the flames of a debate already raging over creating AI art in which Pope Francis plays an unwilling and symbolic role.
The head of the Catholic Church is used to being the target of AI-generated fakes. One of the defining images of the rise of AI was Francis wearing a Balenciaga puffer jacket. A remarkably realistic image that went viral in March last year and was viewed by millions. Francisco, however, did not see the funny side. He alluded to Balenciaga’s image in a speech on AI in January where he warned about the impact of deepfakes.
“Fake news… today can employ ‘deepfakes’, that is, the creation and dissemination of images that appear perfectly plausible but false; I have been subject to this too,” he said.
Other deepfakes include Francis Wrapped in a Pride flag and holding an umbrella on the beach. Like the Balenciaga image, they were created using the Midjourney AI tool.
The Italian digital artist behind the Madonna images, RickDick, said he did not intend to offend with the images, which show Francis with his arm around the singer’s waist and then hugging her. More likely to offend is another image on RickDick’s Instagram page, which shows a photo of the Pope’s face seamlessly merged with that of Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
RickDick said Mangione’s image was intended to satirize the online obsession with the American, which is “elevating him to a godlike figure.”
“My goal is to make people think and, if possible, smile,” said the artist, who works under the nickname RickDick but declined to give his full name.
He said memes (viral images that are endlessly modified and recycled online) were our “new visual culture, and I find them fascinating for their ability to quickly communicate profound ideas.”
The Pope is an obvious target for deepfakes, according to experts, because there is a huge digital “footprint” of videos, images and voice recordings related to Francis. AI models are trained on the open Internet, which is filled with content featuring famous public figures, from politicians to celebrities to religious leaders.
“The Pope appears very frequently in the public eye and there are large volumes of photographs, videos and audio clips of him on the open web,” said Sam Stockwell, a research associate at the Alan Turing Institute in the United Kingdom.
“Since AI models are often trained indiscriminately on such data, it becomes much easier for these models to replicate the facial features and likeness of individuals like the Pope compared to those who do not have as large a digital footprint.”
RickDick said the artificial intelligence model he used to create the images of Francis, which were posted to his Instagram account and later reposted by Madonna, was trained specifically on images of the Pope and the pop star, on a paid platform called Krea. .ai. However, realistic images of Francisco can also be easily created with freely available models, such as Stable Diffusion, which allows users to place him on a bicycle or a soccer field with a few simple prompts.
Stockwell adds that there is also the obvious appeal of juxtaposing a powerful figure with unusual or embarrassing situations: a basic ingredient of satire.
“It is associated with strict rules and traditions, so some people would like to fake it in situations that are unusual in relation to that background,” he said.
Add AI to the satirical mix and it means there are likely to be more papal deepfakes.
“I enjoy using public figures, objects, fashion and events to provoke thought by mixing the absurd with the unconventional,” said RickDick. “It’s like working with an endless puzzle, always looking for new creative connections. The Pope is just one of my favorite subjects to work on.”