Trump’s Misleading AI Crusade: Faux Swifties Support Sparks Deepfake Concerns

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Trump Circulates AI-Made Photos Suggesting Taylor Swift's Fans Back His Bid

Ex-president Donald Trump has circulated photos made by artificial intelligence which incorrectly suggest that fans of Taylor Swift are endorsing his political campaign.

On Truth Social, Trump uploaded images of four X posts displaying several young females donning "Swifties for Trump" shirts in different designs. One image suggested that Swifties have shifted their support to Trump following the cancellation of Taylor Swift's Vienna concert over safety issues. Additionally, one of the pictures featured the message "Taylor encourages you to cast your vote for Donald Trump."

"Trump confirmed his agreement with a caption on his post stating, 'I accept!'"

Nonetheless, Trump's message seems to include a blend of authentic and AI-created visuals that inaccurately imply a large-scale, organized campaign of Swifties supporting Trump. Employing a detection tool developed by the nonprofit True Media, aimed at identifying the distribution of deepfakes connected to elections, WIRED discovered that numerous pictures distributed by Trump possess "considerable signs of alteration."

A screenshot distributed by Trump originated from an undisclosed pro-Trump profile, boasting more than 300,000 followers, known for frequently uploading images created by artificial intelligence. After making a post regarding Swifties in support of Trump, this account then published a subsequent message indicating that the initial Swifties for Trump post was intended as "satire."

Though it seems there's no ongoing campaign of Swifties supporting Trump, a Swifties4Kamala group is indeed active. "We don't speak for all Swifties, but I believe there's a valid reason why we don't require artificial intelligence to express our backing for Kamala," Irene Kim, co-founder of Swifties4Harris, shared with WIRED.

At least one individual openly supports both Taylor Swift and Donald Trump. On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social an authentic photo of Jenna Piwowarczyk, who attended a Trump rally in Racine, Wisconsin, in June, sporting a self-designed T-shirt that read "Swifties for Trump." Piwowarczyk has since started selling these custom T-shirts on Etsy.

Trump has regularly circulated images produced by artificial intelligence. Previously, he inaccurately alleged that the Harris campaign was employing artificial intelligence to exaggerate the number of attendees at her events. Additionally, during the weekend, Trump shared a computer-generated picture on X, depicting Harris delivering a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with the backdrop of a Soviet Union flag displayed above the audience.

Experts on disinformation have raised alarms over how generative AI technologies could compromise election integrity. Throughout this year, WIRED has documented numerous instances where generative AI was utilized to create content in various global elections.

Swift has never officially supported a presidential candidate, yet she threw her support behind President Joe Biden during the 2020 election. Additionally, she has been a vocal critic of Trump. Specifically, in response to Trump's controversial statement, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," made in the context of the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations for George Floyd, the pop icon condemned the former president for pretending to have high moral standards while she accused him of fueling white supremacy and racism throughout his term.

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