Trump supporters are reportedly using fake images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) showing former U.S. president Donald Trump with Black voters to help persuade African American voters in the upcoming U.S. November elections.
A move described to help promote the Republican party, months before the US elections, numerous deep fakes depicting Black people as supporters of the former president were found by BBC Panorama.
(Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
People hold up smart phones to photograph former US President and 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speak at a Republican volunteer recruitment event at Fervent, a Calvary Chapel, in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 8, 2023.
Black voters, who were crucial to Joe Biden's election victory in 2020, have been actively courted by Mr. Trump. However, there is no proof that the fake AI-generated pictures are associated with Donald Trump's campaign.
The edited photos, according to the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, a nonprofit that promotes black voters, were pushing a "strategic narrative" meant to portray Mr. Trump as well-liked in the black community.
One of the photos' creators reportedly said they are not claiming it is accurate. In contrast to evidence of foreign influence campaigns in 2016, the AI-generated images discovered by the BBC seem to have been created and disseminated by US voters.
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Storytelling Through Fake AI Images
Mark Kaye and his group at a conservative radio program in Florida was one of them, they claim they are not actively capturing images of "what's... happening." Instead, Kare remarked that they are a "storyteller."
He included this picture with a story he wrote about black voters endorsing Mr. Trump, creating the appearance that these individuals are united in their endorsement of the former president's bid for the presidency. Several Facebook commenters seemed to think the AI image was authentic.
A second widely seen AI image that was uncovered during the BBC investigation shows Mr. Trump standing alongside African American voters on a front porch. It didn't become viral until it was reshared with an incorrect caption claiming that he had pulled over to greet these people. A spoof account that fabricates images of the former president produced the initial post.
African Americans on Trump
In reality, polls have revealed the opposite to be true. Black Americans' support for Trump has been steadily declining since 2020 while more than 80% of Black Americans think that the legal measures against Trump are appropriate, according to a January poll.
Some polls indicate that although Black Americans' support for Trump has increased significantly since 2020, he is still a long way from garnering the majority of the Black vote. In conversations with USA TODAY, several pollsters and Black political scientists refuted the former president's assertion that his legal issues are analogous to the injustices that Black Americans have endured in the court system.
Exit polls indicate that 8% of Black voters supported Trump in 2016. In 2020, that support rose to 12 percent. Trump's percentage of support among Black voters has remained constant at 12%. Meanwhile, the Roper Center reports that President Joe Biden's support has decreased from 87% in 2020 to 63%.
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