The world of deepfakes and artificial intelligence can be a bit scary. The thought of someone placing you in a situation you definitely weren't in via the power of AI isn't exactly calming. But, now and again AI throws up something that makes us have a bit of a chuckle, and this AI image of Bill Gates introducing the first iPhone, in 2007, is one of those times (the AI house party images from a few weeks ago is another).
The 'photo' posted in r/weirddalle (see below) and presumably made using DALL·E 2 shows what looks like Bill Gates standing on stage, though zoom in and you'll see there's something not quite right with his face. There's a phone on the screen behind him, showing Bill Gates face (why would he be calling himself, or have set himself as his own background?). Of course it's not actually an iPhone, but an AI approximation of what a Microsoft phone would look like. And to be fair, it's not a bad rendition.
It's definitely got people talking. One commenter said: "Love how it looks so much not like a iPhone, probably just because Bill Gates was included in the prompt." While others were impressed by the fake Microsoft iPhone: "Wow... that's... kinda what I'd picture a Microsoft iPhone looking like," said one Redditer.
Some were confused by Bill Gates' proportions (us too). "His arm looks like a cauliflower" and "why is his head so small? And grafted onto Steve Ballmer's body?" were some of our favourite musings.
Over on Twitter, many were impressed by the 'realism' of the image and the phone, with one person saying: "At first glance i thought that was real wtf," and someone else saying: "This actually looks what Microsoft would've done for the iPhone."
One person took it all a bit too seriously: "Are you sure you know what you’re talking about? That doesn’t look like the iPhone at all, and Bill Gates didn’t make it. It was created by the legendary Steve Jobs and his team. Please get your facts straight before misleading people." The comments, predictably, piled in (see below if you want to relive Steve Jobs' actual presentation).
If you're left wanting more unreal images, then see our favourite deepfake examples, or join the r/weirddalle over on Reddit.
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Rosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life. In 2018, she joined Creative Bloq, where she now assists with the daily management of the site, including growing the site's reach, getting involved in events, such as judging the Brand Impact Awards, and helping make sure our content serves the reader as best it can.
