The art of fabrication: From Cottingley fairies to the Balenciaga pope

This week, a shiver of astonishment rippled through our collective digital consciousness as we stumbled upon the incredible revelation that not everything we see online is real. I am, of course, referring to the AI-generated pontiff donning particularly unorthodox outfit.

In a world awash with images, we find ourselves as wanderers amidst a forest of visual stories, some real, some imagined, some manipulated. As we walk, we are lured into believing that what we see is what we get. However, the truth is often obscured by our biases, desires, and fears. The advent of AI-generated images has undoubtedly complicated our relationship with reality, but this game is not new.