Social Media Users are Fooled by AI Photos of Met Gala

Social media users fell for AI-generated photos that appeared to show celebrities attending the Met Gala 2024.

On Monday evening, stars attended the Met Gala held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City — with guests wearing outfits in line with the event’s dress code theme: “The Garden of Time.”

As celebrities began to walk the red carpet for this year’s event, AI photos that showed stars such as Katy Perry and Rihanna posing on the museum steps went viral on X.

While neither Perry nor Rihanna attended this year’s Met Gala, that did not stop millions of social media users from circulating the hyper-realistic images of the celebrities on X.

Many social media users revealed that they had been fooled by the fake images of the singers — before X readers eventually added a community note to explain that the images were created with AI.

In an AI image, that has amassed 14.5 million views on X, Perry is pictured in an elaborate floral dress with a hem resembling green moss that fits the Met Gala’s nature theme.

In a second image, which has four million views, Perry is shown posing on the museum steps in an armor-style corset with a key-shaped detail on the front and a skirt made from leaves and flowers.

In another viral AI-generated image that racked up six million views, Rihanna was pictured in a regal, garden-themed dress at the Met Gala.

Perry later took to Instagram to confirm that she did not attend this year’s Met Gala and that the photos were AI-generated. The pop star revealed that her mom had even fallen for the fake images.

Many social media users described their embarrassment after being duped by the fake images and how AI technology had “ruined” the excitement of this year’s Met Gala. Others commented on how AI-generated photos are becoming ever more convincing.