The artificial intelligence deepfake scourge has claimed another susceptible victim: Katy Perry’s mom.
Perry was definitely not at the Met Gala last night, but photos of “her” in a billowing floral gown befitting the “Garden of Time” dress code nevertheless started circulating online. Arguably, with a quick glance, one could be forgiven for thinking they were legit, but with a close enough examination, the images clearly bore the disconcerting, uncanny, hyper-realness of AI.
But there was enough there to throw Perry’s mom. On Instagram, the pop star shared a screen grab of a text message from her mom, exclaiming, “Ha Feather! Din’t know you went to the Met,” followed by some explosion emojis. “What a gorgeous gown, you look like the Rose Parade, you are your own float lol.”
Perry was quick to set the record straight, replying, “lol mom the AI got you too, BEWARE!” (We would love to know how many of Perry’s unread 98 text messages are people also thinking the AI photos of her are real.)
In the post, Perry noted that she couldn’t make it to the Met Gala because she was working, and as proof she shared a video of her ostensibly recording vocals for a new song — but, alas, without any audio.
Perry is currently serving as a judge on Season 22 of American Idol, though she announced earlier that this year would be her last on the show. There are a couple episodes of the season left, with the finale set to air May 19.
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Beyond that, Perry’s only other big plan on the books this year is a performance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September. She hasn’t released any new music since her 2020 effort, Smile, but as she told Rolling Stone in a 2022 interview, she’s “never not” making music.
“I like to meditate before I write a song so that I can be open and clear and whatever needs to come through me and through that pen comes through me,” she said. “Sometimes, I like to go on a real emotional, psychological journey when I write a record. I’m working through some of my emotions and maybe some of the issues that I need to work through. Sometimes I’ll plug back into doing therapy so that I’m processing stuff and through my music, so there’s a real emotional, internal investigation that’s going on when I’m starting to write new music.”
