From AFP Fact Check
AI image of Pope Francis in open casket misleads online
By Jan Cuyco
As tributes poured in from around the globe for Pope Francis, who died April 21, 2025, an AI-generated image of the Catholic leader in an open coffin surfaced online. Some social media users appeared to believe the visual was genuine, but it substantially differs from official pictures the Vatican released.
The image, overlaid with Malayalam-language text bidding the pope farewell, surfaced on Facebook the same day the pontiff, 88, died from a stroke less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia (archived link).
It appears to show Francis in a white garment holding a large crucifix.
The post, which also includes #PopeFrancis and #RIP, accumulated thousands of engagements...
Hany Farid, co-founder of GetReal Labs, a cybersecurity company focused on combating malicious artificial intelligence threats, also detected signs it was made with generative AI (archived link).
“I believe the image was generated using Meta AI. You’ll notice the Meta watermark hidden under the pink watermark,” Farid told AFP...
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.
