What The Pope Is Going On Here? Papal Puffer Pic Leaves People Perplexed
Pope Francis did not show off his “drip” in a white puffer jacket despite an artificial intelligence-generated image that went viral on Twitter over the weekend.
The image, which fact-checking site Snopes determined to be fake on Sunday, shows the pope rocking the massive coat along with a zucchetto on his head and a pectoral cross around his neck.
But the spread of the image on social media reportedly originates from a Reddit user’s post on Friday, according to Forbes.
The user made the post in the r/midjourney subreddit that’s dedicated to the app Midjourney, a tool that crafts AI-generated images.
OKAAYYY pic.twitter.com/MliHsksX7L
— leon (@skyferrori) March 25, 2023
Other Reddit users have shared pope-centric images on the platform, too, including a “Grand Theft Auto”-like illustration and a picture of Pope Francis sitting inside a white vehicle.
The pope puffer photo comes after several AI-generated pictures of former President Donald Trumpdepicting an arrest went viral last week.
The pope photo tripped up several Twitter users – including Chrissy Teigen – who were fooled into thinking Pope Francis made the fashion choice.
I thought the pope’s puffer jacket was real and didnt give it a second thought. no way am I surviving the future of technology
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 26, 2023
I’m not saying that the world has just changed but only now do I realise that the Pope in the big jacket was AI-generated.
— James O'Malley (@Psythor) March 26, 2023
the pope has been wearing that same musty robe for a 100 years now why would he decide to be dripped out on a random Saturday afternoon https://t.co/DCZOVuVTQZ
— I Could’ve Just Sat On In With Massa (@WrittenByHanna) March 25, 2023
just found out that the Pope puffer coat picture is AI and the Pope didn’t actually wear a white puffer trench coat. very distraught and heartbroken rn
— simone! (@parasocialyte) March 25, 2023
I think to get through the AI era you need to really lean into your common sense. Is the pope usually dressed like Fat Joe? No. https://t.co/6Hwzz3iZnA
— Hate it here✨️ (@itisclive) March 25, 2023