The viral Facebook “Challah Horse”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently “loved” a viral AI image on Facebook known as “Challah Horse” that was originally posted as a warning against generative AI.
It’s unclear if Zuckerberg understood that the image he was reacting to was AI-generated, but Facebook has been flooded with AI-generated slop for some time now.
Facebook is becoming something of a slop swamp, as spam accounts fill the timeline with eye-catching, often surreal images, posted in a desperate bid for engagement.
The ease of creating and posting generative AI images online has led to unusual trends emerging from Facebook’s algorithmic soup, such as “Shrimp Jesus,” the messianic crustacean that quickly became a meme on X (Twitter).
The elaborate bread sculpture known as “Challah Horse” is not an unusual sight on Facebook, which is brimming with photos of non-existent, often impossible works of AI-generated Art.
Where Did The ‘Challah Horse’ Come From?
According to 404 Media, the Challah Horse originated from a Polish news outlet called Donald.pl, which satirized Facebook’s flood of AI-generated slop by posting the image with the caption, “This woman baked a challah horse but no one congratulated her.”
The ironic post was inevitably reposted in earnest by spam accounts on Facebook, and the Challah Horse post that Zuckerberg “loved” came from Faithful, a verified page with 1.1 million followers.
Faithful regularly goes viral posting uncanny AI-generated images, such as farmers with turnip-fingers holding fake crops, and proud dads building 3-storey bunk beds for their non-existent children.
These images are extremely distressing if one takes a minute to look at the fine details—soulless humans with gnarled fingers, waxy skin and dead eyes, often standing in front of twisted pieces of furniture and warped windows.
For Facebook users who are scrolling quickly through the timeline and aren’t looking for signs of AI-generated slop, this kind of engagement-bait is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
Notably, Zuckerberg has decorated his own Facebook page with an AI-generated wallpaper image, featuring llamas standing on servers.
-Successful AI-generated images are often inspired by viral images of the past, creating unique trends which can lead to the emergence of figures like Shrimp Jesus.
The roots of Challah Horse can be traced back to a 2010 post known as “The Bread House man,” a viral Russian image featuring a man standing next to a house he had built using loafs of bread.
The viral image of a bread sculpture sparked many AI-generated spin-offs, leading to the impossible Challah Horse that caught Zuckerberg’s eye.
While the most outlandish AI-generated images tend to attract the most attention, there is a concerning number of realistic images that are being used to mislead social media users.
The terrifying images of burning hills and buildings that emerged from Los Angeles were muddied by an AI-generated image of the iconic Hollywood Sign wreathed in flames.
The Hollywood Sign was never in danger, but the image managed to spread through social media like wildfire.
Recently, generative AI was used in a headline-grabbing catfishing scandal, when a woman claimed on a French news show that she was scammed out of €830,000 by fraudsters pretending to be Brad Pitt.
The story went viral on social media because the AI-generated images of Brad Pitt were, admittedly, pretty funny, but the story serves as a stark warning about how generative AI can be used to deceive vulnerable people.
As generative AI continues to improve, there will be many more instances of the technology emboldening scams, identity theft and fake news.
The surreal images emerging from the primordial soup of Facebook might be amusing, but the consequences of an irredeemably AI-polluted internet will be no laughing matter.
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