BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Last December 18, the world witnessed the highlight of perhaps the most controversial World Cup ever: the final between France and Argentina. A splendid final on the field, but unfortunately less beautiful in the stands.
Flemish newspaper De Morgen and creative agency mortierbrigade decided to blow the final whistle on this tournament by showing everything and everyone spectators were not allowed to see in the stands of the Lusail stadium: supporters with rainbow flags and One Love bracelets, workers who suffered heavily during the construction of the stadiums, and activists denouncing the ecological impact of this World Cup.
“It was impossible to see this dream final in reality. So we had to enlist the help of Artificial Intelligence to create these images, which we never saw in the stands of the Lusail stadium. Artificial Intelligence in this case is, unfortunately, more human than real people,” said mortierbrigade Assistant Director Frédéric Zouag.
The images were generated by AI with the help of photographer Hadrien Hanse. It took countless tests and briefings (also called prompts) to obtain the perfect result. And the results are really stunning. In fact, it’s hard to believe that these images were created entirely by a machine. They appeared in the weekend edition of De Morgen. A video with the images was also distributed on social media.
On top of that, the images were added to the Google Maps page of the Lusail stadium, so they will be a virtual part of the stadium forever.
