Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to accuse Vice President Kamala Harris of using artificial intelligence (AI) to artificially inflate the size of the crowd at a recent campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan. Trump’s claims, however, have been thoroughly debunked by multiple sources.
Trump, who has recently been obsessed with crowd sizes, posted a series of rants on Sunday suggesting that Harris “cheated” by using AI to create the appearance of a larger crowd at the airport rally. He alleged that the images showing a large number of supporters were fabricated and that a maintenance worker at the airport had “turned in” Harris for the supposed deception.
BREAKING: Kamala Harris’ rally in Las Vegas is packed and entirely sold out. Trump is seething because he could never pull a crowd like this. That’s why he’s cancelled nearly all of his events. Retweet so all Americans see this energy and excitement.https://t.co/lU6weSWhav
— Kamala’s Wins (@harris_wins) August 10, 2024
“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!” Trump wrote. “She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror-like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane.”
Trump’s accusations quickly gained traction among his supporters, but they were soon challenged by various fact-checkers and news outlets. According to a report from MLive, the crowd at the Detroit rally was very much real, with approximately 15,000 people in attendance. The event, which Harris attended alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, was widely covered by the media, and numerous photos and videos from the rally were shared online, clearly showing the large turnout.
Harris’ campaign responded to Trump’s claims by posting on X (formerly Twitter), stating: “1) This is an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan. 2) Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week… Low energy?”
To further counter Trump’s allegations, Harris’ campaign also shared a video on Truth Social showing the full scope of the crowd, accompanied by the caption: “Warning: The content of this video may upset @realDonaldTrump.”
Fact-checking website Snopes also looked into the claims, using AI detection tools to analyze the images Trump shared. They found no evidence that the crowd was digitally manipulated, noting that the photo was “96% human” and likely taken by someone at the event. While they acknowledged the possibility of minor digital enhancements, such as lighting adjustments, they concluded that the crowd was real.
This is not the first time AI has been at the center of political controversy. Earlier in her campaign, Harris was targeted by a deepfake video that falsely depicted her saying things she did not actually say. Similarly, Trump himself has been the subject of AI-generated images, including a set of photos that falsely showed him being arrested in a dramatic confrontation with New York law enforcement officers.
Thoughts?
RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images
The post Donald Trump Falsely Accuses Kamala Harris of Using AI to Inflate Rally Crowd Size first appeared on The Source.
The post Donald Trump Falsely Accuses Kamala Harris of Using AI to Inflate Rally Crowd Size appeared first on The Source.