An AI-generated photo of King Charles III wearing a pink jacket and shorts, eating ice cream has been widely circulated on Facebook. The photo is rather realistic and, at first glance, it creates the impression that it is authentic.
In fact, this and several other similar AI-generated photos were published by Scottish social media artist Hey Reilly on his Instagram and Facebook pages on June 17.
Photos created by Hey Reilly using artificial intelligence have gone viral in the past as well. The AI-generated photos by the artist about Charles III’s coronation were even published in The Times in May. In a conversation with the publication, the artist noted that his works are satirical in content and are mainly created for entertainment. Hey Reilly mainly uses the artificial intelligence tool Midjourney to create the photos. Members of the British royal family often appear in his works. In addition to AI-generated photos, Hey Reilly also posts visually altered photos on social media.
Details from the photo indicating that it is not real
Photos generated by artificial intelligence are becoming more and more realistic. However, a closer look at the circulated photo of Charles III reveals details that hint that it is, in fact, not authentic.
For example, the shadow of the glasses on the face is inconsistent with the direction of the sunlight, and the ear hook of the glasses has partially disappeared.
The body shapes of the people in the background of the picture are unnatural, and the clothes of one of them are actually identical to the sea.
In addition, the skin on King Charles’ legs is unnaturally smooth.
“Myth Detector” verified a number of photos generated by artificial intelligence. For more information on how to recognize similar photos, see our article:
How to Detect AI-Generated Photos? (in Georgian)
