After Emmanuel Macron as a garbage collector and Donald Trump detained by the police, Pope Francis with a state-of-the-art white down jacket. Like the other two examples cited, the particularly realistic scene is a pure creation of the Midjourney software. This tool, based on what is called generative artificial intelligence, is capable of creating a fake photograph in a few seconds, based on a simple request from an Internet user.
Warning message
Widely disseminated at the end of March, the “photo” of Pope Francis was perceived as authentic by many users of social networks. So much so that Twitter eventually placed a warning message, indicating the imaginary nature of the “cliché”, below one of the most-streamed posts. The image was first shared on the Reddit forum.
Given this success, other Internet users have decided to broadcast their own version of Pope Francis in a down jacket, again through Midjourney.
The open door to “fake news”
Available for several months, the Midjourney software impresses with its realism in its latest update, billed at around ten euros per month. The tool works from simple descriptive requests from Internet users about a scene they would like to see take shape. Midjourney is capable of achieving particularly realistic visual effects, but also much more artistic.
But as in the context of ChatGPT’s textual artificial intelligence, the question of spreading false information arises. With, around Midjourney, synthetic images increasingly difficult to differentiate from the authentic images.
Midjourney recently decided to delete the account of the user who faked the arrest snapshots of Donald Trump. A protection measure that may have to be completed quickly, until social networks have effective tools to detect these images.
Source: BFM TV
