Trump's accusation that Harris spread an AI-generated image is baseless

AFP Fact Check Trump's accusation that Harris spread an AI-generated image is baseless Article by Johanna LEHN / Bill MCCARTHY / AFP USA • 41 million • 5 minutes reading time False information based on AI-generated content is dominating the US election campaign. Kamala Harris is currently being accused of having circulated such an image herself in order to make the crowd of her supporters at a rally in Michigan appear larger. Among those spreading the false claim is none other than Donald Trump. However, recordings of the event, including those by AFP journalists, refute the claim. Digital forensics experts said the image showed no signs of AI manipulation. "Using fakes to achieve success - Kamala's campaign team is cheating voters," wrote a Facebook user on August 12, 2024. "In order to suggest to voters in the USA that their candidate Kamala Harris has a large following, AI tricks are often used." The post contains a photo of a large crowd in front of an airplane and one showing a half-empty hall. This is intended to make it clear: The crowd at the rally of the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the airport in Detroit was not actually that large, because not as many supporters came to other events either. Her opponent Donald Trump also claimed on his network Truth Social that Kamala Harris' campaign team had created a photo of the crowd at the airport using artificial intelligence (AI) and shared it on social media. "Did anyone notice that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?" Trump wrote in English on August 11, 2024. "There was no one at the plane," she created the image with AI and "showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!" the Republican presidential candidate continued in a first of several posts on the subject. "She was reported by a maintenance worker at the airport who noticed the fake photo of the crowd, but there was no one there, which was confirmed by the reflection of the reflective surface of the Vice President's plane. She is a FRAUD." The allegation comes at a time when the cards in the race for the White House have been reshuffled by Biden's withdrawal and the nomination of Kamala Harris as presidential candidate. The claim about Harris' rally on August 7, 2024 first circulated in circles shaped by right-wing ideologies and conspiracy narratives before reaching Donald Trump. He shared an X-post from conservative US commentator Chuck Callesto, who in turn cited a reflection in an airplane as evidence that the photo was fake. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have led to an increase in the spread of fake images and other disinformation online in a year with numerous important elections around the world. The claim that Harris faked the photo of the Detroit crowd is false, however. Thousands of listeners watched the rally at Detroit airport, including an AFP video journalist who captured footage of supporters filling the hangar and streaming onto the tarmac to see Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. Live footage and photos from various angles published by numerous other media outlets and participants also show the size of the crowd that Trump claimed did not exist. Some Democrats shared their own footage of the event and mocked Trump's posts. "I'm honored that whoever created the AI ​​image of the 15,000 enthusiastic Democrats welcoming @kamalaharris and @tim_walz to Detroit was kind enough to include me at the rendering desk," wrote Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, on X. AFP reached out to Trump's campaign team for a statement but did not receive a response by the time this article was published. No mention of AI The allegedly AI-generated photo appears to have been first released by Harris' campaign chief. He wrote on X that he got it from another staffer. Harris' campaign team did not respond to a request for comment from AFP. However, it sent a version of the staffer's original photo to BBC, telling the broadcaster it had "not been altered by AI in any way." The original appears darker than the high-exposure version shared online by Trump. "This is a real photo of a crowd of 15,000 people for Harris-Waltz in Michigan," the campaign team wrote on one of its channels on X.