WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has been active on his social accounts as Democrats gather for their convention in Chicago, but some of his posts don’t have much to do with reality.
Before the Democratic National Convention, he posted a fake image of someone resembling Vice President Kamala Harris addressing an apparent communist rally in Chicago with an image of a red flag with a communist symbol. That followed his repost of a fake video of him dancing next to billionaire Elon Musk, one of his most outspoken supporters.
Just before the convention started, he reposted a photo of Taylor Swift in an Uncle Sam outfit and accepted her support for his campaign, which she never gave.
They are the latest examples of Trump promoting images produced by artificial intelligence tools to attack his opponents or create illusions of support around his own campaign. It is in line with a long-standing strategy in which Trump amplifies messages — from QAnon supporters to those who deny the results of a fair election — to score political points and appease his base by promoting alternative realities.
Some of the images and videos Trump has shared are cartoonish or clearly fake. Still, the increase in AI-generated content on political social media is raising concerns among experts who say it could be used to spread more insidious and credible disinformation. As fake images, videos, and audio clips created by generative AI models begin to saturate social media, they also risk undermining people’s trust in what they see and hear.
“Taylor Swift’s AI-generated deepfakes are yet another example of AI’s power to create disinformation that misleads and defrauds voters,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-chair of Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights advocacy group that has pushed for legislation to address this to regulate. AI. “The potential harm to our society that could result from such disinformation, including abuse of our elections, is far-reaching and enormously damaging.”
One AI-generated image in Trump’s Truth Social post, shared Sunday, showed women in “Swifties for Trump” shirts, a reference to the artist’s devout fans. The fake image, which showed Swift dressed as Uncle Sam, included the text: “Taylor wants YOU to VOTE for DONALD TRUMP.” In his repost of the image, Trump added: “I accept!”
One of the images Trump shared included a small satire label, although he did not clarify whether he meant his post to be a joke.
Swift, who remains on her world tour and has a show scheduled for Tuesday night in London, has not endorsed this year’s U.S. presidential race. Her spokesperson did not return multiple messages seeking comment.
For Republicans outside Trump’s influence, focusing on someone like Swift — one of the most talked about artists in the world — is about garnering attention for Trump at a time when much of the attention is on Harris and the Democrats.
“This is how he and the campaign can reduce the news cycles,” said Doug Heye, a longtime Republican spokesman and contributor. “I hesitate to pay tribute to them, but I think we all know: If you want to be talked about, Taylor Swift is a great way to do it.”
A spokesperson for Harris did not respond to questions about Trump’s use of artificial intelligence-generated images.
Trump supporters regularly create posts and memes on social media using AI-generated images, some of which are shared by the former president.
Before Trump shared the fake Swift images, his supporters had created and posted their own AI-generated videos and images of the pop star that appeared to support Trump. They also shared numerous images of Harris dressed as a communist leader or addressing a Soviet crowd.
Political actors have long been concerned about what the rise of artificial intelligence could mean for elections.
Some members of Congress have pushed for legislation to regulate the use of AI-generated imagery in politics, but no legislation to do so has come close. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed requiring political advertisers to disclose their use of artificial intelligence in television and radio ads, but such a rule would not affect social media platforms.
Although several social media companies have rules for labeling AI-generated content, these are not always enforced. Across platforms, misleading and lifelike images of both Trump and Harris are viewed millions of times, with some users failing to recognize that what they are seeing is fake.
Given her influence and millions of fans, Swift has often become a trending political topic during election years.
In 2020, she endorsed President Joe Biden and wrote a month before the election that she would cheer on then-vice presidential candidate Harris, this year’s Democratic nominee, in her debate against then-Vice President Mike Pence. She was also openly critical of Trump ahead of the 2020 election, saying he had fanned “the flames of white supremacy and racism.”
Although she has remained on the sidelines so far this year, she has not escaped the attention of prominent conservatives concerned about a quick endorsement of the Democratic presidential ticket.
Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro warned Swift earlier this year not to “get involved in politics.” Fox News’ Sean Hannity urged her to “think twice” about supporting Biden as he ran for re-election. And Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate and outspoken Trump supporter, called Swift and her NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce “an artificial culturally assisted couple” who could receive “a major presidential endorsement” this fall.
Some of her supporters have responded to Trump’s posts by taking to social media to announce their intention to vote for the former president. Trump’s campaign is taking advantage of that support.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesman, did not comment on the use of fake images in response to questions, but called ‘Swifties for Trump’ a ‘huge movement that is growing every day’.
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Swenson reported from New York.
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