Monday night's 'Garden of Time'-themed Met Gala was the place to be seen for the biggest names in music, film, and fashion — even if some stars weren't really there.
DailyMail.com has talked to two superfans of pop star Katy Perry, whose work with AI image-generators 'imagined' what Perry might have worn to the gala so vividly that they even fooled Perry's own mother.
The images leaned heavily into the 'garden' part of this year's Met Gala theme, with lush, verdant ivies and floral patterns draping a simulated Perry.
In one image, the 'Firework' songwriter's hair flows in long crimped waves, like 1940s screen siren Veronica Lake; in the other, an AI Perry sports the on-trend 'wet look.'
'I intend to continue creating content that inspires and enchants fans, without disrespecting the artist's image,' Brazilian fan 'Sali' told DailyMail.com of his work.
Sali — who also crafted an uncanny AI fake of Billie Eilish attending last night's gala — knows his work is 'sparking debates about ethical AI use,' particularly in an election year that has already seen AI-faked Biden robocalls and AI images of Trump supporters.
DailyMail.com has talked to two superfans of chart-topping pop artist Katy Perry, whose work with artificial intelligence (AI) image-generators 'imagined' what Perry might have worn to the gala. The finished product was so vivid that the fans even fooled Katy Perry's own mother
But this sincere and dedicated Katy Perry fan hopes there will still be freedom for the creation of 'positive and admirable content' with this shockingly advanced tech.
Sali said he took encouragement from the discovery that someone from Katy Perry's team appeared to be liking some of his past AI images of the pop star, created for his Instagram fan account, @salikatycat.
'Someone from her team was liking them, so I believed that some of my edits might be seen by her,' Sali told DailyMail.com.
'I think that may have sparked [my] interest in creating these AI-generated looks of Katy Perry for the Met Gala,' he continued. 'I believed that, but I might be being too presumptuous in saying that.'
On an American Idol red carpet, just hours before the 2024 Met Gala was set to begin, Perry had been coy about whether or not she planned to attend.
'This is my Met Gala. This is my garden party,' she told Entertainment Tonight of the reality show. 'Here I am, transformed, the butterfly you have been waiting to see.'
Perry did not directly say whether or not she would be making the cross-country, 'red eye' flight required to attend the gala in New York, but Sali could still hope.
'I speculated that Katy Perry would attend the Met Gala,' he said, 'but she hadn’t confirmed her presence.'
Then, the Billboard-charting recording artist surprised and delighted Sali by posting his own AI-generated images of her to her official Instagram account — alerting all her followers that she 'couldn't make it to the MET, had to work.'
Brazilian Katy Perry fan 'Sali' told DailyMail.com he knows his work is 'sparking debates about ethical AI use,' particularly in an election year. But this sincere and dedicated Perry fan hopes there will still be freedom for creating 'positive and admirable content' with advanced AI
Brazilian Katy Perry fan Sali also dabbles in making AI images of other celebrities. 'One edit that caused quite a stir was the one of Billie Eilish at the recent Met Gala,' he told DailyMail.com
Sali, a nickname for the AI-image maker whose first name is Gustavo and who wishes to remain private, explained to DailyMail.com that the craftsman-like process he uses to make his fakes was much more than typing up an AI prompt.
'She was made by AI on Bing,' Sali told DailyMail.com, 'then I remastered everything and added her face.'
Launched in March of 2023 as a new feature for Microsoft's search engine Bing, Copilot Designer helps users 'create images from words with AI'.
The tool, though powerful, is far from perfect according to Sali, who describes Bing's offering as 'one of the best AIs for creating looks' and ideal for 'creativity generation.'
'The attempts on Bing to generate an image are varied until I reach the result I consider perfect,' he said.
Once the app has whipped up some captivating images, Sali turns to Leonardo.AI, a Sydney, Australia-based generative AI start-up, for fine-tuning.
'It's an AI that adds quality and realism to the image,' the Katy Perry fan said. 'So, after generating the image with Bing, I send it to Leonardo[.AI], which adds skin texture, realism, and then I make final adjustments in Photoshop.'
Social media feeds were crowded with AI-made fakes pretending to show images of the rich and famous at the 2024 Met Gala, including this lifelike image of Rihanna (above). This Rihanna image, however, was not made by Sali or his fellow fan Kauán
Using Adobe's tried-and-true photo editing suite, Sali explained, allows him to make subtle corrections to the facial proportions on his AI Katy Perry and sometimes insert real photos of her face into the AI-generated image, 'editing them as necessary.'
'I also edit faces of other celebrities besides Katy. One edit that caused quite a stir was the one of Billie Eilish at the recent Met Gala.'
A fellow Perry fan, Kauán, who goes by @wanthatoo on the Elon Musk-owned social media site X, told DailyMail.com that he was allowed to play a minor role as 'part of the creative process.'
Kauán, via Portuguese translation, told DailyMail.com that he was thrilled and relieved that Katy Perry herself appeared to give further blessing to the project, retroactively, giving X posts of Sali's AI images a 'Like' on the platform.
'The use of edits with artificial intelligence, in this case, as fan-made is not necessarily harmful, right?' Kauán opined.
'However, it is clear that it has the potential for harmful uses for society,' the fan admitted, 'with deepfakes, creation of child pornography, political use [...] etc!'
While Katy Perry posted a screencap of her conversation with her mother, who had fallen for the viral images, thinking here daughter had attended the Met Gala this year (left), warning her to 'BEWARE' she ultimately gave her AI-image-making fans a tacit 'Like' of approval (right)
'Receiving approval from Katy Perry was gratifying and motivates me to move forward, aware of the responsibility I carry,' Sali told DailyMail.com of these quiet or tacit bodes of confidence.
The songwriter also posted a screencap of her conversation with her mother, who had fallen for the viral images, thinking her daughter had actually attended the Met Gala in person this year.
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'lol mom the AI got you too, BEWARE!' Perry texted back, at least, based on her posted screencapture.
Marveling at the uproar and attention, Sali said, 'I feel very happy, yet at the same time, very scared of the scale it has taken.'
'It's been very, very ... crazy,' Sali told DailyMail.com.
While he personally find this new era of hyper-advanced and hyper-realistic AI-image making 'incredible,' he understands that his ethically motivated approach is not the only one being practiced.
'On my profile, I dedicate all my edits to Katy Perry. I seek only to praise her beauty and create concepts, avoiding sexualization,' Sali said.
'I understand it may cause discomfort for some, but I'm committed to creating positive and admirable content.'