The Devil Wears Prada 2 meme mistaken for AI was actually painted by a human artist

A 'Devil Wears Prada 2' meme that viewers thought was AI slop was actually made by a human

What some viewers thought was an AI-generated meme in "The Devil Wears Prada 2" was actually drawn by a human artist. The highly anticipated sequel to the 2006 classic dominated the box office this weekend as its original cast returned to the story of the fictional magazine "Runway" 20 years later. One clip from the new film shows a slew of internet memes disparaging editor-in-chief Miranda Priestley, played by Meryl Streep, including one of Priestley as a fast-food worker, with the text: "Would you like some lies with that?" The meme, which was on screen for only a brief moment, looked to many audience members as an intentional depiction of AI slop, part of the film's satirization of the modern state of media. But when the artist who drew it, Alexis Franklin, shared online that the image was hand-painted, many viewers expressed their surprise and excitement that the meme, despite its appearance, wasn't AI-generated at all. "Absolutely no disrespect to Queen Meryl, but this is something I would've painted in my free time, so when they asked me to do this it was nothing but fun," Franklin wrote in an Instagram post. She said that "The Devil Wears Prada" director David Frankel asked to commission her for the piece. Franklin's post, which included a time lapse of her artistic process, accrued hundreds of comments praising her work as well as the film's decision to hire a human artist for the project. One commenter wrote that it was "so refreshing it not being AI." "Ai replacing artists 🙅🏻♀️ artists replacing ai 🙂↕️," wrote another. Franklin told NBC News that the digital painting took her a few days of on-and-off work to complete, and that she was "fairly compensated." She wrote in an email that she was going for a "cheap, plastic look that reminded me of the photoshopped 2010's meme aesthetic." But that plastic look has also spurred some commenters to ask if she intended to mimic the look of AI, particularly with certain stylistic choices like the blurring of menu text. (Illegible text has been a telltale sign of AI-generated imagery as models struggle to replicate small details.) "Technically I was trying to make it look artificial, but emulating AI was not on my mind when I painted it," Franklin wrote. "It feels like the power of suggestion has taken hold in that regard. I've had people point out regular, human micro-errors in the piece and claim I did it intentionally to nail the 'AI slop' of it all, which is amusing." Still, Franklin, a professional illustrator for nearly a decade, said some people are still having trouble believing that the work is her own. She's received accusations of faking her Priestley painting despite the time lapse she shared and her public portfolio of work from long before AI images became commonplace online. It's part of a growing phenomenon that has troubled media experts. As generative AI technology gets increasingly sophisticated, people are not only more likely to believe AI-generated images are real, but they're also more likely to believe real images are AI. "This mass hypervigilance prevails because people don't want to be fooled, leading them to see signs on the walls that aren't really there or that have very simple, reasonable explanations," Franklin wrote. "And it's hard to know what the solution is." She added that she understands people's skepticism, especially when it comes from a place of wanting to support human artists. But she said it also has the potential to hurt those artists. "AI is so prevalent now, it feels like people have forgotten how it got that good -- it studied us," Franklin wrote. "The techniques it uses are ours!"

The 'Devil Wears Prada 2' hired an artist whose work looked like AI. How she did it is going viral

Forget AI replacing human artists -- The Devil Wears Prada 2 just proved that human artists can replace AI. The new movie, a long-awaited sequel to 2006's The Devil Wears Prada, sees the return of star Meryl Streep as iconic fashion editor Miranda Priestly. It begins with Priestly in a PR crisis, sparking a slew of online hate. That includes memes like an image of Priestly dressed as a fast-food worker captioned, "Would you like lies with that?" The image is only briefly on screen, and at first glance, many moviegoers assumed it was AI-generated. After all, on the internet of 2026, it most likely would be -- an internet troll likely isn't going out of their way to craft the image by hand. But after The Devil Wears Prada 2 hit theaters on May 1, digital artist Alexis Franklin took to social media to set the record straight: She's the one who created the artwork, not AI, at the request of director David Frankel.

How a Devils Wears Prada 2 "nailed AI slop"

Film fans are on the alert for any sign of AI art these days, and there seemed to be a flagrant case in The Devil Wears Prada 2. A meme appearing in the film bears all the hallmarks of AI slop, but the backlash is on hold: it turns out that it was made by human artist, who inadvertently replicated the look of AI art more convincingly than AI can replicate human-made art. Fans of the movie are delighted by the news, and the fact the image turns out to be human-made puts a twist on some fashion brands' obsessions with machine-crafted visuals (we're looking at you Skechers). It also makes up for the strange design decisions in those Devil Wears Prada 2 posters. Directed by David Frankel, The Devil Wears Prada 2 sees the fictional fashion magazine Runway in trouble with falling sales and a reputational crisis. The 'AI meme' appears amid a backlash against editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) for failing to vet an article. It shows Miranda working at a fast-food restaurant, accompanied with the phrase "would you like some lies with that?" As demonstrated in the video included in her post above, Alexis Franklin, a digital artist who uses Procreate and Photoshop, created the image manually. She wasn't specifically asked to recreate the look of AI, but to "create a cheap meme". Given that many memes today are generated using AI, it makes sense that the image would end up having some of the uncanny, soulless look of AI-generated images - without using the technology. Some of the features commonly associated with AI art are present, including blurred and distorted lettering and that ubiquitous retro golden tone (AKA "piss filter"). Many fans of the film are relieved to discover that the artwork was made by a human, particularly given that the topic of AI comes up in the movie as a looming threat replacing human taste - and potentially jobs. That's led to the image being seen as part of the film's statement about the importance of human craftsmanship even if it wasn't explicitly intended that way. "I was disappointed when I saw it, but now I just appreciate it more!," one person wrote on Instagram. "The fact that they could have used AI because that could have been a joke but instead choosing not to is a slap to AI generated content and I can't love it more!" someone else wrote. Writing on X, Alexis said she's surprised that the artwork has generated such furor. "I was hired to create a meme, not necessarily a painting, and since the image would not be on screen long, I kind of deployed a 'logo' state of mind -- it needed to be immediately readable as clearly doctored and fake, because that's the joke. "I didn't go heavy on the brush strokes or 'artistry' of it. But the response to this has been so interesting. 'You nailed the AI slop of it!' is such a harrowing compliment."