By Eliyahu Klein

There’s a new trend spreading through the Chabad world, and it’s worth talking about: AI-generated pictures of the Rebbe.

It started off quite innocently. People began using AI to restore old photographs by removing scratches, cleaning up blurry areas, or taking out objects that didn’t belong in the background. Few people saw a problem with that. It’s simply a more advanced form of photo restoration, something editors have been doing for decades, only now it’s faster and more powerful.

Then came colorization. Old black-and-white photographs of the Rebbe and previous Rebbeim began appearing in color. That was already a step further, since the AI is guessing at skin tones, clothing colors, and countless other details that were never actually recorded. Still, many viewed it as an extension of restoration, adding color to an authentic photograph.

But it didn’t stop there.

Today, AI is being used to create pictures and moments that never existed at all.

A shliach wants a picture of the Rebbe smiling for a Simchas Torah flyer. A mosad wants the Rebbe with a more serious expression for an article about a difficult topic. AI generates exactly what is requested, even though it was created entirely from a text prompt.

This is becoming more and more common. You’ll find these images on local flyers. You’ll see them in well-known Chabad magazines. And almost nobody stops to ask whether it’s acceptable.

It isn’t.

Generating an image and presenting it as a picture of the Rebbe is a serious problem and disrespectful of the Rebbeim. It doesn’t matter how realistic the technology becomes. If the image was never taken, then it is not a picture of the Rebbe. It is simply an algorithm’s best guess of what the Rebbe might have looked like in an imaginary moment.

During the winter of 5744, someone submitted drawings they had made of the Mitteler Rebbe, imagined based on his resemblance to the Alter Rebbe, along with a drawing of the Rebbe Maharash based on a resemblance to the Frierdiker Rebbe. Since no photographs exist of those Rebbeim, the artist’s goal was understandable. They wanted to help people picture them.

The Rebbe’s response was unusually sharp.

“Chas v’shalom, chas v’shalom to draw pictures based on imagination and attribute them to our Rebbeim.”

Attributing an imagined image to a Rebbe is a serious affront to the honor of the Rebbeim. No matter how well-intended or how convincing it appears.

On numerous occasions, the Rebbe emphasized the importance of tziur pnei harav – picturing the holy face of the Rebbe.

At the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Re’ei 5746, the Rebbe spoke with remarkable intensity about the strength a shliach draws by picturing the Frierdiker Rebbe before going out on shlichus. The Rebbe added:

“Those who merited to see my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, can picture his appearance ‘as though he is standing before them.’ Even those who did not have the merit of seeing him can form that picture by looking at an accurate photograph.”

Accurate.

The unique effect that comes from looking at a photograph depends on the fact that it is an authentic image.

As this technology keeps getting easier to use and harder to spot, this question is only going to come up more. Whether you’re putting together a flyer, magazine spread, or any other publication, think before they hit print.