As festooned with jewelry and precious metals the Popes of the past were, I doubt you’ve seen one this swaggy…
And the reason why is because it isn’t real. This image is created via an AI engine called Midjourney. You can find coverage of it all over the internet: The Verge, BuzzFeed, Reuters, and ArsTechnica to name a few. And if you read them you’ll find that they address a bevy of concerns relating to generative AI.
In this image, I see not only a really cool Pope, but also the promise and the peril of artificial intelligence.
What’s the promise? It’s sort of fun!
Pope Francis in a Balenciaga bubble coat. It’s super unique and refreshing. Here’s someone who is the literal manifestation of an institution that many consider to be stiff, stuffy, unchanging, patriarchal, hierarchical, and anachronistic. And he is wearing clothing that is the entire opposite of that.
It reminds me of the novelty of the early internet. Way back when you could find a cute viral video and accept it at face value. You wouldn’t immediately wonder if it was staged. Or if it was ripped off another website. Or if it wasn’t simply monetized click-bait. We didn’t know it, but the internet was fun, innocent, and enjoyable without ulterior motive.
What’s the peril? Well… how much time do you have?
Let’s admit that differentiating betwen truth and falsehood has always been a large concern for human kind. I would argue that this represents a dramatic shift in what we readily accept as true. When I first saw this image on Twitter, I immediately thought, “damn, this guy looks cool.” Then I immediately thought, “no way this is real.” But I really wasn’t sure! Deep fakes have been around for a while. But this is a solid articulation of how deceiving they can be.
While this is cool, can you imagine how this might be used in an irresponsible, harmful, or evil way? It wouldn’t take much to imagine His Holiness being falsely presented in a problematic or compromising situation.
How do you build guardrails to prevent or mitigate this type of image? I don’t have insight on this, but I understand that OpenAI and others place specific restrictions on improper use of AI. But will others follow suit?
How do we fact-check this type of image? There are some telltale markers of AI generation of this image — the smears, the slightly hidden right hand, and the random coffee mug he’s holding. But without specifically knowing that signs, it’s easy to accept this as fact. Moreover, we know that the AI engines will continue to improve and “fix” these “errors.””
Also, how do we address the use of one’s likeness? Does the Pope have a right to not have his image used like this? Do you and I as private individuals have to provide consent to have our image run through an AI neural network? Do we only have rights when our image is easily discernible in the end result? Do our rights only extend to immoral or abusive use of our likeness?
Seeing is believing, right? But what can we believe when this technology becomes commonly available? How easy will disinformation be to create? Will there be liability for deceit and lying? So as much as I enjoy the prospect of seeing Pope this dope, I also recognize (like many others) that there’s a lot we need to do to prepare for this new technological wave.