From Jesus to child artists, AI images dominate Facebook; understand the ‘phenomenon’

Jesus Christ is everywhere — At least, that’s what these artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images make it appear. A few weeks ago, a trend of images emerged on Facebook and other social networks that, if you look closely, hide not only the face of the figure of Christianity, but also a multitude of other hidden messages.

No, these are not real photos. In fact, this is part of a craze that emerged on the internet a long time ago, but gained traction again with the popularization of generative AIs capable of creating images from text descriptions.

There are many creations of this type, including landscapes, kittens, “artistic” children, people or photos of an apparently normal street. By closing your eyes a little, you can see the hidden image, then discover what the post is about.

In Brazil, the recent fever is related to the arts of Jesus Christ, an important figure in Christianity. The AI-generated creations hide the Redeemer’s face in several different ways, taking those who passed by the post without knowing what it was about by surprise.

Jesus made with AI everywhere

O TecMundo saw several of these figures on the internet and, in this article, brought together some of the most creative publications. If you have difficulty seeing the hidden figures, try partially closing your eyes. Check it out below:

From Jesus to child artists, AI images dominate Facebook; understand the ‘phenomenon’

From Jesus to child artists, AI images dominate Facebook; understand the ‘phenomenon’

From Jesus to child artists, AI images dominate Facebook; understand the ‘phenomenon’

From Jesus to child artists, AI images dominate Facebook; understand the ‘phenomenon’

How are these images made?

It is impossible to know exactly how the images were made and, considering that there are several different figures, they probably came from different authors. Furthermore, Practically any image-generating AI can create this type of photo.

Therefore, you could use Copilot, Midjourney, or Adobe Firefly to create the figures. To do this, it is important to know exactly what to ask for, describing precisely what you expect the model to produce.

It is worth mentioning that not every image generator tool can create photos with religious figures. Some companies establish strict policies against reproducing images from these entities, thus preventing misuse of applications.

In a way, the creation process is the same one that generated the memorable photos of Pope Francis in a stylish coat and designer chains.

How are these images seen?

It is probably only possible to recognize hidden images thanks to the incredible human ability to recognize visual patterns. According to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory, the human brain has an unusual ability to capture subtle differences in an image, such as items out of place or the peculiar position of certain items.

This ability to easily distinguish figures is Visual Processing, which implies the power to perceive, analyze, synthesize and think with visual patterns.

Facebook algorithm boost

Even though the joke seems harmless, it highlights one of the problems in recommending content from large social networks, such as Facebook. The website reporter NPR Shannon Bond reported how easy it was to come across one of these posts, even though it was not created, shared or published by any page followed or profile added.

Images like this generate easy engagement due to the “surprise factor”.Source: Wellington Arruda/TecMundo

The posts are interesting, but they proved to be a good way to generate engagement. Bond mentions that publications accumulate thousands of interactions, including likes, reactions, comments and shares.

This fever, however, is used to boost accounts with illegitimate content, that is, pages with the pure intention of accumulating likes and followers to increase their own value. Later, these same profiles can be sold or take advantage of the huge audience to promote criminal websites, phishing, or the sale of products of questionable origin.

Now that artificial intelligence tools have made content creation even easier and more accessible, trends like this are likely to appear even more frequently. The effects of this are yet to be discovered, but it may make social networks even less “organic” than they already are.