Users on Twitter are mistaking artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of former President Donald Trump getting arrested as the real thing.
Eliot Higgins, who founded the investigative site Bellingcat, posted the AI images that showed Trump being swarmed by police and tackled to the ground while he was “waiting for Trump’s arrest.”
But users were quick to repost the images, regardless of them not being real.
“i can’t tell if these trump arrest pictures are real or ai generated,” one user wrote.
“Ai is getting out of hand. Y’all got me all excited for nothing,” another said.
Many users marveled at just how good AI-generated art has gotten, with one picture showing Trump fleeing police and another showing him being tackled to the ground.
“the donald trump arrest pics going around just proves even more that AI is absolutely cooking whatever amount of media literacy people have left on the internet,” one user said.
“Everyone posting and retweeting the Trump arrest AI pictures as if they were real without factchecking… yeah AI is going to ruin careers and lives,” said another.
The former president faces possible charges in Manhattan over his alleged hush money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) will ask a grand jury to vote on charges as soon as Wednesday, according to the Daily Mail, although the indictment would likely remain under seal until after Trump’s possible surrender and arraignment.
Protestors have been stationed outside of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse since Trump’s declaration on Truth Social on Saturday that he anticipated getting arrested by Tuesday. The protestors have been dwarfed, though, by members of the media at the courthouse covering potential charges.
Trump is not going to face immediate jail time, as prosecutors wouldn’t hold Trump on bail.
However, if he chooses to not peacefully surrender, the AI images could wind up looking a little more like the real thing.
