On Friday, March 24, 2023, a picture of the Pope wearing a fashionable puffer jacket began circulating on the Internet. The image was posted to a Midjoureny subreddit and soon became known as ‘Pope Drip,’ ‘Balenciaga Pope,’ or simply ‘Puffy Pope.’ Over the course of the weekend, the image spread as a funny meme on various social media platforms. Soon it became the subject of debunking. On closer inspection the image can easily be identified as an AI creation: the skin texture and distorted details give it away. But at first glance, many thought the image was real. Perhaps people wanted to believe it was real because there is something funny about a man of God being portrayed as trendy. And although many believed it -even celebrities admitted that they fell for the image- it soon turned out that the image was artificially created.
(con)Text @Designboom