AI-generated image of Katy Perry at the Met Gala fooled her own mother

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Neither Katy Perry nor Rihanna were at the Met Gala in New York on Monday night. But you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, after AI-generated images of the two celebrities started circulating on social media. Perry’s was so realistic, it even fooled her own mother.

The singer told her Instagram followers: “Couldn’t make it to the MET, had to work.” But the message was accompanied by several realistic-looking images that appeared to show her there. One was even accompanied by a text from her mother, Mary Perry.

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“Ha Feather! Didn’t know you went to the Met,” her mother wrote. “What a gorgeous gown. You look like the Rose Parade, you are your own float lol.”

To which the younger Perry responded: “Lol mom the AI got you too, BEWARE!”

She also shared a clip of her at work in her recording studio, as proof that she was never at the gala.

One of the fake images showed Perry in a floral gown with a moss trim while the other has her wearing a ragged flowery skirt and a brassy breastplate adorned with a large key. They’ve been viewed millions of times on X, where they first appeared, but now carry notices that they are fake.

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BBC coverage of the fakes noted that the images are not perfect — a photographer in the background has been oddly cropped, and another has weird fingers (a telltale sign of AI trickery), while the carpet itself is from 2018. “But it still feels like an improvement on some of the other AI-generated images that have gone viral,” the site noted.

Meanwhile, a similar AI-generated image of singer Rihanna at the gala was also popping up on social media platforms, despite the fact that she had come down with the flu and did not attend. The picture shows her on the red carpet wearing an embroidered gown with a huge halo covered with plants and birds.

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Another no-show who appeared to be in attendance was Lady Gaga, who hasn’t been to the Met Gala since 2019.

But the oddest fakes were for singer-songwriter Dua Lipa, who appeared to be wearing a corset and sporting dark hair and bangs in images shared on social media just before the event. However, when she arrived on the red carpet she was in a black dress, equal parts lace and feathers, and with long auburn hair. It was soon noted that the first images were in fact from a photoshoot she did for Vogue in 2021.

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