Facebook users fall for AI-generated image of Pope Francis celebrating mass before massive crowd
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 17, 2023 at 10:19
- 4 min read
- By Ara Eugenio, AFP Philippines
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"LOOK: Picture of about two million young people that attended Mass with Pope Francis in Lisbon!" reads part of the caption to the image posted on Facebook on August 9.
It includes the hashtag "#WorldYouthDay2023" which refers to the six-day international Catholic jamboree that ran from August 1 to 6 in Portugal's capital Lisbon.
The image appears to show the 86-year-old pontiff from the back as he raises both hands in front of a massive crowd.
The image was also shared more than 1,000 times elsewhere on Facebook here, here and here alongside similar claims.
User comments indicate some believed the photo was genuine.
"Awesome photo capturing the moment with the young people from all over the world," said one user.
"Amazing. I love the millennials and Gen Zers," said another.
Although Pope Francis did celebrate mass in Lisbon during World Youth Day, the image shared in the posts had been generated using AI technology.
Midjourney image
A reverse image search on Google found the picture was originally shared here on X, formerly known as Twitter, on August 6 by a user named Matt Kielczewski (archived link).
"Managed to get a close up of the pope at #JMJ2023Lisboa#JMJ2023," reads the caption, referring to the acronym for Jornada Mundial da Juventude, the Portuguese translation for World Youth Day.
Replying to commenters who said the image was "fake", Kielczewski responded by saying the image was "100% not real" and "100% AI" (archived links here and here).
He also told AFP the image was generated by AI.
"I confirm this is my photo, I created it using Midjourney AI prompts," he said on August 12.
The online tool generates images from text prompts that users type into the chat platform Discord (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in one of the false posts (left) and the picture shared by Kielczewski (right):
He also shared the following screenshots with AFP to show his attempts at creating the photo using Midjourney:
A closer review of the photo using the Invid-WeVerify magnifying glass tool shows one of the Pope's hands appears distorted:
Experts say such defects are one way to spot a fabricated image.
Actual mass
Pope Francis celebrated mass at Parque Tejo, a park on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital, on August 6 (archived links here and here).
The Vatican said the large outdoor mass was attended by about 1.5 million people.
A handout photo from the Vatican published here in AFP's archives shows the actual mass where the Pope could be seen using a wheelchair.
The handout photo shows a partial view of the Tagus river that passes through Lisbon while the AI generated image shows a tall building and trees.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the AI generated image (left) and the Vatican's handout photo (right):
AFP has previously debunked false claims using AI-generated images here, here and here.
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