Everyone was obsessed with those Empire State Building photos. Now AI is letting you fake your own.
The images of a couple standing on top of the Empire State Building antenna have been all over social media this week.
Now, unsurprisingly, AI has turned the impossible view into one of the internet’s latest viral photo trends.
Using a single reference photo, the prompt recreates the look of standing on the very top of the Empire State Building’s antenna, complete with dizzying views over Manhattan, golden-hour lighting and a surprisingly realistic DSLR finish.
It’s the latest in a wave of AI photo edits that can rebuild an entire scene around one image. Upload your photo, paste in the prompt, and suddenly you’re standing somewhere almost nobody ever gets to stand.
Whether you’re after a new profile picture, wallpaper or just want to see how convincing AI has become, this is one of the most viral prompts doing the rounds right now.
The viral Empire State Building AI prompt
Copy and paste the prompt below into your favourite AI image generator, then upload the photo you want to use as the reference.
“Create an ultra-realistic, high-resolution selfie from the top maintenance platform of the Empire State Building antenna in New York City. Use the uploaded photo as the exact reference for the person’s face, hair, skin tone, expression, and overall appearance so they closely resemble the person in the uploaded image. Position them standing on the narrow steel maintenance platform surrounded by the real antenna structure, with detailed latticework, communication equipment, cables, ladders and metal framework filling the left side and foreground of the image. The camera is held at arm’s length for a natural smartphone selfie with a wide-angle 24mm lens. The person is wearing modern black streetwear with a subtle climbing harness, looking naturally into the camera with a relaxed expression. Behind them, the Manhattan skyline stretches into the distance in bright midday light, with One World Trade Center visible on the horizon and thousands of sharply detailed buildings below. The composition should closely resemble a genuine viral rooftop climber selfie, with realistic perspective, natural skin tones, authentic lighting, slight smartphone HDR processing, crisp architectural detail, subtle lens distortion, and an intense sense of height. The image should be indistinguishable from a real iPhone photo taken by professional urban climbers, with no AI artefacts, no fantasy elements, no exaggerated colours, and highly photorealistic quality.”
Thankfully, this version doesn’t involve trespassing, climbing a skyscraper or ending up in NYPD custody.
Just upload your photo, let AI do the work, and enjoy the view from one of New York’s most famous landmarks without ever leaving the ground.
