AI-generated images of Katy Perry at 2024 Met Gala fool social media users, Perry’s mother

Photos of Katy Perry’s large, showstopping floral frock created a social media buzz as people shared their favorite fashion from the Met Gala. 

The problem? The Perry images aren’t real. 

One May 6 Facebook post included two photos that claimed to show Perry in her Met Gala attire. The first showed an expansive, intricate gown embellished with flowers and butterflies. The second showed a corset top reminiscent of a vintage metal key attached to a green skirt that appeared to be made of vines and flowers. 

"Katy Perry ATE and left NO crumbs," the post’s caption read, followed by a heart-eye emoji. The Facebook user also added the two photos to a Facebook photo album titled, "2024 MET GALA." 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Facebook.)

The Met Gala benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. This year’s theme was "The Garden of Time." But Perry wasn’t there.

The images that purport to show her at the gala are generated by artificial intelligence.

"Couldn’t make it to the MET, had to work," Perry wrote in a May 6 Instagram post in which she shared both AI-generated photos. 

Social media users weren’t the only ones fooled by the AI photos — even Perry’s mother fell for the hoax. Perry also shared a screenshot of a text conversation with her mom. 

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A post shared by KATY PERRY (@katyperry)

"Didn’t know you went to the Met," Perry’s mom wrote in the text exchange. "What a gorgeous gown, you look like the Rose Parade, you are your own float lol."

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stated on April 16, 2024 in a Facebook post

“Michelle Obama humiliated after embarrassing photo emerges.”

Perry replied: "lol mom the AI got you too, BEWARE!" 

Katy Perry has attended the Met Gala before, most recently in 2022.

Katy Perry attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" exhibition May 2, 2022, in New York. (AP)

Other details might also tip off eagle-eyed viewers to the fact that the gown image is AI-generated. 

(Image from Facebook.)

The carpet doesn’t match the 2024 Met Gala carpet, which was cream colored and had moss green accents along the edges.

The carpet for the 2024 Met Gala. pic.twitter.com/gmjsFr4Uvd

— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 6, 2024

It’s much closer to the 2018 Met Gala carpet with a red pattern on the edges and leaf-covered walls, but still not an identical match.

Actor Blake Lively attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibition on May 7, 2018, in New York. (AP)

Looking closely at the photographers in the background of the Perry gown image also showed some inconsistencies common among AI-generated images, including bizarre looking hands and distorted faces. 

We rate the claim that these images show Perry at the 2024 Met Gala Pants on Fire!