The most viral image of the weekend on social networks was that of Pope Francis dressed in an elegant white jacket from the Balenciaga brand. The mentioned garment has aroused all kinds of reactions, but the real problem was that the image was not real, but was created with the artificial intelligence tool Midjourney.
Now, the creator of the photograph has explained how he generated the image that has deceived the world. This is Pablo Xavier, a 31-year-old worker in the construction sector, who has not wanted to share his last name for fear of reprisals.
As he explained to the US portal BuzzFeed News, Pablo Xavier was under the influence of some hallucinogenic mushrooms when he came up with the idea of generating the image.
"I try to do fun things and psychedelic art. It came to me suddenly. I thought I should use the Pope. Then everything went smoothly: The Pope in a Balenciaga coat, walking through the streets of Rome or Paris," he recounted.
Pablo Xavier generated the first three images last Friday. “When I first saw them I thought they were perfect,” he explained. For this reason, the young man shared them in a Facebook group specializing in art generated by artificial intelligence and later on Reddit.
Minutes later, Xavier was stunned when he found that the images had gone viral. “I didn't expect it to explode like this. I was stunned ”, he stated.
The photos became so popular that the author was banned from Reddit within hours of sharing his work. “A lot of people thought they were real without question. It's crazy, ”he pointed out.
In addition, Pablo Xavier has criticized those who have used these photos to charge against the Catholic Church.
The viralization of this false image has once again raised the alarm bells that warn that this type of 'deep fakes' can become dangerous weapons in the future.
And it is that these very realistic images can mislead many people and generate misinformation or, what is worse, false information interested in political or ideological reasons.
But the story of Pablo Xavier and the art generated through artificial intelligence has a sad beginning. The young man began to tinker with this technology after the death of one of his brothers last November.
“It all started dealing with pain. I would create images of my deceased brother,” she explained. After these initial experiments, Pablo Xavier was captivated by the artistic possibilities that artificial intelligence offers.
Pablo Xavier grew up in a Catholic family, but says he does not feel part of the religion. But he affirms that he does not feel animosity towards the pontiff either. "I just thought it was funny to see the Pope in a weird jacket," he said.
