- A picture of Pope Francis having a kiss with the US musician Madonna and grabbing her breast has been verified
- The picture, which was shared on a Facebook page, was distributed to several groups with large followers, and reshared by many
- Africa Check, a reputable fact-checking organisation, confirmed that the viral picture was likely to be AI-generated, citing its investigation
Legit.ng journalist Bada Yusuf is an accomplished politics and current affairs editor, boasting over seven years of experience in journalism and writing.
A viral picture on Facebook claimed the world leader of the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis, kissed and grabbed the breast of US musician Madonna.
The photo was titled "Pope Francis and Madonna exchanging greetings. Don't panic, ni salamu tu...I think."
The part which is Kiswahili means: "This is just greetings."
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Where to get pictures of Pope Francis and Madonna
The Facebook user posted the picture on his page and several groups with thousands of followers here and here.
Several Facebook users have reposted the picture, but is there any fact in the claim?
Catholic priests and nuns take the vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. Therefore, they are to uphold celibacy. In 1969, Pope Francis was ordained, and he has since taken the vow.
Africa Check, a reputable fact-checking organisation, fact-checked the image and confirmed that it was possibly AI-generated.
Why image of Pope Francis, Madonna is AI-generated
This was because multiple reputable media organisations would have published an image of such a respected religious world leader.
Also, checking for the picture on the internet produced an empty result, except for social media instances where it has been published.
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The absence of images or photos on credible websites is a hint that they are artificially generated.
AI (Artificial intelligence) uses complex computer algorithms to achieve some of the objectives that humans have carried out. One such objective is the creation of images from scratch following simple instructions.
There are some indications that AI would have generated the image.
A proper check on the image revealed some strange inconsistencies. For example, one of the locks of Madonna's hair appeared to merge with the ear, making the ear look unnatural as it appeared without an earlobe.
Also, the US singer looked quite different in a recent photo from reputable media outlets.
It was also noted that the thumb of the Pope appeared to have melted into the skin of Madonna's breast.
AI generators are known to struggle when creating some parts of the body, particularly the hands and fingers.
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Where to confirm AI-generated images
According to Africa Check, the image was run through five AI image detectors.
The Hive Moderator said the image was 99.5 per cent AI-generated. Is it AI? resulted in a 93.37 per cent possibility. Illuminary said it was 87.9 per cent. Content at Scale and Hugging Face noted it was 63 per cent, respectfully.
Thus, there was no evidence that Pope Francis was caught on camera kissing the US musician. The image is likely AI-generated.
Pope Francis speaks on same-sex marriage
Legit.ng earlier reported that Pope Francis has expressed optimism that those who opposed the directive of blessing same-sex unions will soon come to understand his view.
According to the Catholic leader, those opposing his views are small ideological groups, adding that Nigeria and Africans at large opposed it from their cultural point of view.
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The Pope maintained that the Vatican's directive that bishops should bless same-sex couples was a sign of acceptance and not rejection.
Source: Legit.ng
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