Dozens of fake, artificial intelligence-generated photos showing Donald Trump with Black people are being spread by his supporters, according to a new investigation.
BBC Panorama reported that the images appear to be created by supporters themselves. There is no evidence tying the photos to Trump’s campaign.
One photo was created by the Florida-based conservative radio show host Mark Kaye.
“I’m not out there taking pictures of what’s really happening. I’m a storyteller,” Kaye told BBC. “I’m not claiming it is accurate. I’m not saying, ‘Hey, look, Donald Trump was at this party with all of these African American voters. Look how much they love him.’”
Artificial intelligence has already caused problems in the 2024 election campaign, with robocalls that used AI to mimic Joe Biden’s voice urging voters not to vote in the New Hampshire primaries.
The latest AI-generated media to emerge show Trump posing on a porch with Black men. Captions shared on social media falsely stated that Trump stopped his motorcade to pose. The BBC noted that some commenters online pointed out that the photos were fake, but many others were convinced they were real.
A taxi driver in Atlanta named Douglas told the outlet that he initially believed one of the photos was real, and that it bolstered his view that Trump was supportive of the Black community.
“Well, that’s the thing about social media. It’s so easy to fool people,” he said.
The co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Cliff Albright, said the AI-generated photos appear to be part of a resurgence of disinformation tactics used in the 2020 election targeted toward the Black community.
“There have been documented attempts to target disinformation to black communities again, especially younger black voters,” Albright told the BBC.
A recent NYTimes and Siena College poll found only 71% of Black voters in six key swing states would vote for Biden, compared with 92% in 2020. Make America Great Again Inc, the main political action committee backing Trump, is set to launch an advertising campaign this week aimed at Black voters in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.