‘Balenciaga Pope’ Francis Storms the Internet, But it Was Only Deepfake using Midjourney AI v5

In what the internet dubbed as 'Balenciaga Pope' or 'Pope with a Drip,' a recent viral image of Pope Francis, the current leader of the Catholic Church Vatican, took the world by storm with his designer style. The image depicted the Pope wearing a puffy white coat as he strolls around the city, one that looks extremely real or something which happened in real life.

However, what if we are to tell you that this is a deepfake? Yes, this accurate photo of Pope Francis was only created by AI, particularly the Midjourney AI v5.

'Balenciaga Pope' Viral Image is Deepfake, Confusing Millions

A Twitter user called @skyferrori shared images that show a close-to-reality image of Pope Francis wearing a puffy white coat and seen strolling around and recently became a trending topic among the public.

Ryan Broderick claimed it to be "Balenciaga Pope," relating his style to a known designer brand, talking about how it suits Pope Francis well, which also confused millions of users online.

The original creator claimed that this photo is deep fake, created using AI image generation via Midjourney AI v5, the latest version of the tech.

The Twitter user claimed that he grabbed the photos from Reddit, and in the post, there are more photos of the Pope wearing it, but further versions already show signs of image generation.

The Pope Drip
by u/trippy_art_special in midjourney

Pope Francis took the Vow of Poverty, to Live in Humility

In reality, Pope Francis would not wear designer clothes, but only those provided by the Vatican, even if it is winter season or visiting a cold area. It is important to note that the Pope took a vow of poverty, as per Daily Telegraph AU, relating to his being from the Jesuit order.

Pope Francis does not live lavishly, and this was something that the public saw for his many years in service, as one for the masses, taking public transportation, and is known to live in humility.

Midjourney AI's Power as an AI Generator

The world saw significant AI generator competition in the market, as different startups and companies went on to deliver their take on a system that will create images out of text prompts. Apart from the rising popularity of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, there are also image generators available in the market, one that does not require any massive input or design to start with.

One of the most famous in the present is Midjourney AI, and this platform allows the public to create hyper-realistic images which are something one could mistake for a real-life event that took place before.

However, even with version 4, the earlier one that was in beta testing mode, it was able to create a scenario that fooled the public, with an event that did not happen in real life.

Most recently, ex-President Donald Trump was deepfaked via AI which imagines his arrest by the NYPD, and this also rocked the internet, supporters and bashers alike. It is also the same case that Pope Francis recently faced, but was taken warmly by the public and praised the Catholic Church's head for what suits him, as created by AI.