A wild photograph of a Black man kicking an alligator has taken the internet by storm. Seemingly AI-generated, the image is causing mass discourse about the photo's authenticity and the power of AI art.

Overall, though, the image is just hilarious. The full-body, karate kick of the shirtless man is awe-inspiring, being likened to anime and video game characters with powerful auras. It's gone viral on X / Twitter and Instagram, among other websites, but where did the original image come from?

Curious about this meme's origin and how it was made? Let's explain.




Who Created The Original 'Alligator Kick' Photo?

The original post that included the image of the Black guy kicking an alligator was posted by the Facebook page Uncle Mike's Photography on Saturday. The page is a hilarious one. All of the "photography" on its profile is AI-generated.

The original post received over 13,000 reactions over the weekend which included many other images of the same guy in the same swamp.





Why Is The 'Alligator Kick' Photo A Meme?

Well, the image is a meme because it objectively "goes hard." Plus, it mixes the viral intrigue of internet users wondering if it's real or AI-generated. The answer is that it's AI-generated, however, the Alligator Kick photo is rather uncanny, almost resembling real life.

The image gained increased attention when it was reposted to X / Twitter soon after its original upload. Many meme creators captioned the image, relating the odd scene to fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Tekken, among others.

Meanwhile, Redditors have been object labeling the image, overlaying words on the bodies in the image including the main man and every alligator present in the scene.





How Was The 'Alligator Kick' AI Image Made?

The only thing we know for sure about the creation of the image is that it was generated by artificial intelligence. There are multiple AI art generators on the web, the two most prominent generators being Stable Diffusion and Midjourney.

Over the past year, AI-generated art has gotten a lot better. It was originally controversial based on its depiction of hands, among other issues with its art style. To counter this, the Alligator Kick picture is one of the most realistic AI images to date, rivaling others that fooled the masses like the Donald Trump getting arrested photos.

All that "Uncle Mike" had to do was give an elaborate prompt to either Midjourney or Stable Difusion, along the lines of "shirtless, fat, Black guy kicking an alligator in dark swamp while other alligators are watching."





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For the full history of Alligator Kick, be sure to check out our entry on the meme here for even more information.