Over the weekend, an AI-generated image of Pope Francis in a puffy white coat went viral on Twitter. There are AI images making their way around the internet all the time, but what was interesting here is how realistic the photo is – most people believed it was real. Based on today’s discussion in class, a question to consider is whether this is harmful, or if it is parody. The line might be fuzzy. It is also worth mentioning that Twitter attached a content warning to the original post stating that “This is an AI-generated image of Pope Francis. It is not a genuine photo.” I think this is really helpful and important in an age of misinformation, but I did notice that as the photo was re-posted rapidly, it didn’t seem like the content warning could keep up (so on most images, there is no warning). For more, see: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/the-power-of-ai-compels-you-to-believe-this-fake-image-of-pope-in-a-puffy-coat/amp/ (ask yourself – would you have believed it?)