As former President Donald Trump seeks Black voter support, some of his followers have also begun targeting Black voters – with fake images, according to a report by BBC Panorama.
The news organization on Monday reported finding dozens of deepfakes portraying Black people supporting the former president.
In one of the AI-generated images, conservative radio show host Mark Kaye and his team created an image of Trump with his arms around a group of Black women. Kaye shared the image on social media, where he has over 1 million followers, according to the BBC.
In another photo the BBC found, a user identified as “Shaggy” placed Trump in front of a house with a group of young Black men. The photo was also posted on social media where it received thousands of likes and 1.4 million views.
But tell-tale signs of the technology could be seen in the AI-generated images – including missing fingers on some peoples’ hands.
Advances in AI have led to worries about how it might be used in politics.
In January, AI-generated robocalls of President Biden went out to voters in New Hampshire, telling people not to vote because the primary was a “bunch of malarkey.” The fake call told voters to “save your vote for the November election.”
New studies have found that AI chatbots are providing voters with false information. In one instance, Meta’s Llama 2 responded to a prompt by falsely stating California voters can vote by text message.
A Trump campaign official told The Hill the campaign had no involvement with the images the BBC found.
“The only ones using AI to meddle in an election are President Trump’s opponents,” the campaign official said. “The Trump Campaign has absolutely nothing to do with these AI images. Nor can we control what other people create and post.”
Trump has been courting Black voters, particularly Black men.
Last month, he claimed that his criminal indictments would appeal to Black voters because they understand discrimination, though his comments quickly drew criticism from Black leaders and Biden.
Trump has also started selling sneakers, displaying them at a Sneaker Con event, and has been hinting he is considering both Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to be his running mate.
Kaye, one of the image creators, told the BBC that he never told his followers the images were real.
“I’m not a photojournalist,” Kaye said. “I’m not out there taking pictures of what’s really happening. I’m a storyteller.”
“I’m not claiming it is accurate. I’m not saying, ‘Hey, look, Donald Trump was at this party with all of these African American voters. Look how much they love him!’” he added. “If anybody’s voting one way or another because of one photo they see on a Facebook page, that’s a problem with that person, not with the post itself.”
Congress has not yet passed laws regulating AI in politics.
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