The god illusion: why the pope is so popular as a deepfake image
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Experts explain the pontiff’s appeal as the most recent AI images of Francis, with the singer Madonna, go viral. For the pope, it was the wrong kind of madonna. The pop legend, she of the 80’s anthem Like a Prayer, has stirred controversy in recent weeks by posting deepfake images on social media which show the pontiff embracing her. It has fanned the flames of a debate which is already raging over the creation of AI art in which Pope Francis plays a symbolic, and unwilling, role.
![[Dan Milmo]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/08/09/Dan_Milmo,_R.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The head of the Catholic church is used to being the subject of AI-generated fakery. One of the defining images of the AI boom was Francis in a Balenciaga puffer jacket. A remarkably realistic picture, it went viral in March last year and was seen by millions. Francis, however, did not see the funny side. He alluded to the Balenciaga image in a speech about AI in January where he warned about the impact of deepfakes.
![[Two images of Pope Francis wearing a white knee-length puffer jacket.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e1d2b656314e72176e83314330c57eca11249a5b/0_5_1146_688/master/1146.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“Fake news … today can employ ‘deepfakes’, namely the creation and diffusion of images that appear perfectly plausible but false – I too have been an object of this,” he said. Other deepfakes include Francis draped in a Pride flag and holding a parasol on a beach. As with the Balenciaga image, they were created by the Midjourney AI tool.
![[AI image of Pope Francis hugging Madonna and pressing his face against the side of her head]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5c66aa3b6743cfd67f7f9158b1e7e72cbd7913d0/0_24_719_899/master/719.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The Italian digital artist behind the Madonna images, RickDick, said he did not intend to cause offence with the pictures, which show Francis with his arm around the singer’s waist and then embracing her. Another image on RickDick’s Instagram page is more likely to offend, showing a photo of the pope’s face seamlessly merged with that of Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Thompson.
