Artist uses AI to reimagine world’s most famous billionaires if they were born poor

Artist reenvisions the world’s richest individuals as ‘slumdog billionaires’

This combination of photos shows former president Donald Trump during rally at the Minden Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nevada, 8 October 2022, left, and Elon Musk in Wilmington, Delaware, 12 July 2021 (AP)

An Indian artist used artificial intelligence to create portraits of famous billionaires – from Elon Musk to Mukesh Ambani – imagining the world’s wealthiest people as poor.

Digital artist Gokul Pillai used artificial intelligence programme Midjourney to create portraits of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mukesh Ambani as “slumdog billionaires”.

His portrayal of the Microsoft co-founder as a lanky old man standing bare-chested outside a shanty, wearing nothing but a grey colored loin cloth, was liked over 10,000 times.

Indian billionaire Ambani, in this alternative reality, is not dressed in his tweed suit but instead wearing an old, seemingly unwashed and oversized T-shirt and blue trousers, as he stood next to a garbage dump.

His post also featured the AI-generated image of Meta chief Zuckerberg in a dusty T-shirt and blue shorts standing in the middle of a slum, while American businessman Buffet is seen wearing a slightly dirty white T-shirt tucked into unzipped trousers.

“This is epic,” wrote a user.

“Warren Buffet is looking rich here as well,” said another.

Earlier this month, AI-generated images of Mr Zuckerberg walking the ramp in flashy Louis Vuitton clothes, flooded social media.

In March, AI enthusiast Jyo John Mulloor posted a series of images on Instagram portraying Game of Thrones characters Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, and Arya Stark in royal Indian attire.

"If George RR Martin has hired an Indian costume designer for Game of Thrones (sic)," he captioned.

An AI-generated image of Pope Francis looking stylish in a large white puffer coat also went viral on social media earlier last month, leaving viewers shocked.

Many social media users, including model Chrissy Teigen, expressed confusion over whether or not the fashionable photograph was real.

“I thought the Pope’s puffer jacket was real and didn’t give it a second thought. No way am I surviving the future of technology,” wrote Teigen.

Another AI-generated image showing Mr Trump wearing an orange prison jumpsuit went viral amid the 34 felony charges brought against him for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the run up to the 2016 presidential elections.

Fake images have sparked concern among lawmakers and experts who fear it could spread harmful disinformation.