White House Responds After Trump And Natalie Harp “Kissing” Image Goes Viral

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Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images

As suspicions about President Donald Trump’s relationship with aide Natalie Harp continue to intensify, people seem to be always on the lookout for more signs that something strange is going on. And when an image that appeared to show Trump and Harp kissing at one of his golf courses went viral, it seemed like the confirmation people had been looking for.

But given the prevalence of AI-generated imagery on social media, many people quickly questioned whether the image was genuine.

Two different but very similar images went viral.

One of them was crisp and clear. To many, it seemed like the more obvious example of an AI-generated image of Trump and Harp. But a lower-resolution version of the image started circulating as well, and the lack of clear details somehow made the photo look more realistic to people, perhaps because it obscured some of the strange details that were more obvious in the higher-resolution photo.

On social media, some people clearly believed the blurry image to be genuine and found it disgusting and alarming. After the images went viral, Snopes published a fact-checking report.

Snopes pointed out that the high-resolution image shows several signs of AI, including an OpenAI watermark. However, the blurrier version of the image did not appear to have this same watermark or other obvious signs of AI usage.

The White House has addressed the image.

The two versions of the photo got enough attention that a White House spokesperson weighed in on the matter. Per Snopes, a White House spokesperson said the image was “clearly a fake,” but would not share any real images of Trump and Harp to be used for further analysis.

The Daily Beast also asked the White House about the viral images and a White House official said, “This is clearly a fake photo.”

Meanwhile, Trump himself loves to share fake AI-generated imagery.

While it’s unclear how he feels about this particular use of AI, he regularly post (sometimes very controversial) AI-generated images of himself and has also shared AI-generated content about some of his harshest critics. And amid concerns about AI and the risks it poses, Trump has defended the technology and called the concerns about it a “hoax.”

He also argued that regulations are not necessary. “AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX,” Trump wrote on social media on Monday, September 14.

He seemed to suggest that those who are sounding the alarm have some sort of other agenda. “The people that say AI is going to destroy the World, and that Data Centers are bad for your neighborhood, are the same people that said, just a short time ago, that the World would be extinguished by ‘Climate Change,'” he claimed. “That HOAX never worked out for them, and now they’re on to the next one.”

As for regulations, Trump tried to say a good president is enough. “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” he said.

So, perhaps he’s not too bothered by the fact that this technology is being used to create images that exacerbate the rumors about him and Harp? Time will tell.

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Paige Sheffield (she/her)