A fake news campaign in the US currently illustrates the dark side of artificial intelligence: In order to raise awareness against illegal migrants, former US President Donald Trump and his supporters are currently spreading AI-generated images of cats and ducks on social media.
The background is statements by Trump’s running mate JD Vance, who claimed that illegal migrants from Haiti stole and ate pets in the US state of Ohio. American media reported, citing authorities in the supposedly affected city of Springfield, that such incidents were unknown – but that did not stop Republicans from spreading the horror story with fake images.
In response to Vance, Republican Senator Ted Cruz posted a photo of a cat with the caption: “Please vote for Trump so migrants from Haiti don’t eat us.” Tech billionaire and X owner Musk shared a photo of a cat on his platform Chicks and a Cat and wrote: “Save them!”
Vance also followed It is of course possible that all of these rumors turn out to be false.”
Trump as animal rescuer
Since then, several Republicans have posted AI-generated cat photos—including Trump on his mouthpiece Truth Social. In one photo, he’s on a plane, surrounded by cats and ducks. He also posted a photo of a cat holding a machine gun and wearing a MAGA hat. MAGA stands for “Make America Great Again,” and is Trump’s campaign motto.
Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace posted an AI-generated image on X showing Trump with a cat under his arm and a goose next to him.
AI Expansion
This isn’t the first time AI-generated images have caused a stir in the US election campaign. Just a few weeks ago, Trump posted a supposed photo of pop superstar Taylor Swift dressed in the national colours of red, white and blue on Truth Social, urging voters to vote for Donald Trump. Bad luck for this one: Swift officially announced her vote for Kamala Harris after the first televised duel on Tuesday.
X owner Musk had previously railed against the Democratic US presidential candidate on his short message service, publishing a photo of Harris showing her in the uniform of a communist dictator.
Mike Harvey, who is running for Florida Senate as a Democrat, called Musk’s move with the AI image “simply dangerous.” He wrote to the billionaire: “Don’t you think this mix of extreme manipulation and infamous lies is dangerous when it’s spread by the richest person on the planet on his own social media platform?”
Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican Party, also advised Musk to withdraw from his own social media platform: “You really need to take an X break.”
Laws are missing
Trump himself has been a big fan of glorifying himself through AI images since March 2023. He shared, among other things, the posts of his fans who digitally assembled his face into photos of a World War II soldier, a cowboy or that of a muscular Rambo.
He is taking advantage of the fact that there is currently virtually no ban in the US on the use of artificial intelligence-generated fake photos or videos as a weapon in election campaigns. New legislation for nationwide restrictions is being debated in Congress, but will not be passed until the presidential election on November 5.
Source: Krone
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