Donald Trump posts deepfakes of Taylor Swift, Kamala Harris, and Elon Musk to manipulate voters

Summary

Donald Trump shared AI-generated deepfake images of Taylor Swift, Kamala Harris, and Elon Musk on his Truth Social platform in an effort to boost his 2024 presidential campaign. The images, including Swift in a "Swifties for Trump" T-shirt and Harris at a communist rally, were reposted from rightwing X accounts and falsely presented as endorsements. Trump also shared a deepfake video of himself dancing with Musk, who has endorsed him. These posts occurred in late July 2024 and reflect a growing trend of AI-generated disinformation in the U.S. election cycle. The use of AI imagery has raised concerns among researchers about the spread of election-related misinformation and the "liar’s dividend" effect, where authentic content is dismissed as fake. The AI images were created using tools like Musk’s Grok image generator, which lacks some of the safety measures found in other AI platforms.