AI-generated images of Trump's arrest confused social media users

Emre Çitak
Mar 23, 2023
Misc
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16

The recent spread of fake images depicting the supposed arrest of former President Donald Trump is causing confusion on social media. These images, which were created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, are so convincing that many people were fooled into thinking that Trump had actually been arrested.

The announcement of Trump's potential arrest by the New York City police over his alleged payment of hush money to pornstar Stormy Daniels had created a buzz among his supporters who were anticipating a massive protest. However, the only thing that came out of the announcement was the spread of fake images of Trump's supposed arrest.

Despite their obvious falsity, the images of Trump fighting off the police and running from them seemed quite real to many users on social media platforms. In fact, the blurry pictures looked realistic enough to make some believe that Trump had actually been arrested.

Elliot Higgins, who created the viral photos using MidJourney, tweeted that he was banned from the awe-inspiring AI-image generator MidJourney for sharing photos of Trump's fake arrest. You may see his tweet series below.

Developing AI technologies makes it difficult to distinguish between real and fake

The recent surge of fake images depicting Trump's supposed arrest is a clear example of the capabilities of AI-powered image-generation tools. These tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and they are capable of producing images that are indistinguishable from those captured by a camera.

In the case of the fake Trump images, the AI tool was able to create pictures that appeared so realistic that many people were fooled into believing that they were genuine.

Trump's arrest images are so realistic that some people actually believed they were real photos

One of the most impressive aspects of these AI-powered image-generation tools is their ability to create images of people that look incredibly realistic. By analyzing thousands of images of human faces, for example, the tools are able to create new faces that are virtually indistinguishable from real ones.

In the case of the fake Trump images, the AI tool was fed images of Trump's face and then allowed to generate new images of him in a variety of poses and situations.

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Comments

  1. Jim Bean said on March 25, 2023 at 10:16 pm
    Reply

    If this fooled anyone they need there eyes checked. Seriously!

  2. foghorn leghorn said on March 24, 2023 at 12:41 pm
    Reply

    I found this Chrome extension that should detect deepfakes. It hasn’t
    been updated in 11 months, but oh well.
    This would work on an original image, but not one that is cut/pasted.
    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-profile-detector-dee/jbpcgcnnhmjmajjkgdaogpgefbnokpcc

  3. Fried_Curly_Chair_Squad said on March 23, 2023 at 10:04 pm
    Reply

    I prefer the ones where Biden activates his Bankai.

  4. Anonymous said on March 23, 2023 at 9:57 pm
    Reply

    Anyone has the list of ghack authors to filter out on RSS?

  5. Drago said on March 23, 2023 at 9:06 pm
    Reply

    The physically aggressive; resisting of arrest, by Mr Trump, story itself would be highly unlikely. Obviously the image was meant for entertaining the gullible and giving mindless media another excuse to write more dull uninspiring AI adverts.

    In the picture: limbs are truncated or appearing from weird places, the head looks like a cardboard cut-out. Fingers or thumbs are missing from several of the hands, a child could do better. Seriously believing in the endless streams of daily fake news sewage about AI helps erode people’s intelligence.

    Bla bla bla bla bla. Dullness. Ethereal, ephemeral dullness. Allegorical dullness. The blunted boredom rises from the gorge of her insufferable lips and floats like the tedious feather of a long dead bird until it lands it nakedly tired memory next to your fleshy feet.

    The Cottingley Fairies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies) look more plausible than the shoddy AI generated image posted in this article.

  6. Anonymous said on March 23, 2023 at 5:47 pm
    Reply

    must be hard to spot the absolute real knot in the arm and the baby-like fingers on the mid right of the pic…

  7. SteveB. said on March 23, 2023 at 5:38 pm
    Reply

    Doesn’t take a lot to confuse most social media users.

  8. Tom Hawack said on March 23, 2023 at 5:22 pm
    Reply

    A patchwork of a few others … [https://img.justpaste.me/i/20230323/pfNg6/AI-faked-Trump-arrest.jpg]

  9. pHROZEN gHOST said on March 23, 2023 at 4:58 pm
    Reply

    BTW, a friend send me a MUCH better one than what you have here.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrwknFHWwAEMLzJ?format=jpg&name=900×900

  10. pHROZEN gHOST said on March 23, 2023 at 4:47 pm
    Reply

    Trump has proven time and again that he is able to buy women. Lady Justice is no exception. Mr. Agent Orange is going to walk.

  11. sammy said on March 23, 2023 at 4:37 pm
    Reply

    Looks totally fake to me right off the bat…is it possible ‘the masses’ are becoming ‘dumbed down’ and ‘sheeple’ who are easily duped, gullible, and manipulated? Nah lol. Chaos merchants and sh*t disturbers have had the doors thrown wide open for them.

  12. John G. said on March 23, 2023 at 3:57 pm
    Reply

    Absolute madness the IA images! :S

  13. Tom Hawack said on March 23, 2023 at 3:23 pm
    Reply

    As far as I see the fake Trump’s arrest picture displayed in the article… it’s obviously fake. The face is blurry but especially blurry when it only is. No need to be an expert to spot immediately the usurpation.

    What stuns me here (regarding this picture only, no idea about others) is,

    1- The picture is AI-generated? Well, the result is more artificial than intelligent.
    2- How can so many of us have been tricked, mainly on social sites as mentioned in the article? Human greed is beyond measure as it seems.

    I’ve seen AI-generated pics and even videos which were really astonishing in realism, truly hard to spot as fake, but the pic here is, IMO, very poorly processed.

    1. Anonymous said on March 24, 2023 at 4:58 am
      Reply

      The best way to tell if it’s A.I. generated for now is to look at the fingers

    2. HelpDeskUntiliDie said on March 23, 2023 at 7:35 pm
      Reply

      I think “tricked” is too far but the article headline’s “confused” is more accurate. I imagine some users saw some of the more realistic images and questioned if it had actually happened. Then they double-checked Google or another source and got the story that these were AI-generated. For me, I think they are fake not because of the quality but the ridiculously over-dramatic tone. We’ve seen plenty of famous people arrested and they don’t run, scream, yell or fight. The images he made on Midjourney are really quite comical, from arrest to incarceration to prison breaks. He left no stone unturned.

      1. Tom Hawack said on March 23, 2023 at 8:04 pm
        Reply

        @HelpDeskUntiliDie, I evoked “greed” (I rather should have evoked “gullibility” by the way) and when you write ”
        For me, I think they are fake not because of the quality but the ridiculously over-dramatic tone.” I realize that not having myself considered this aspect is … gullible. Your approach moreover handles even the best, should they ever be perfect AI-generated images, given it focuses on the background rather than the foreground, so to say.
        I entirely agree with your comment.

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