AI Crocodile Tears
Multiple pro-Trump influencers, including the self-described “investigative journalist” Laura Loomer, were fooled by an AI-generated image designed to depict post-Hurricane Helene aftermath.
The image in question features a young girl sitting on a canoe in the rain, clutching a tiny puppy as tears fall from her fear-stricken eyes. A reverse image search for the photo reveals that the image started circulating on right-wing corners of the internet on Wednesday afternoon, but picked up steam later that evening when conservative writer and former Air Force pilot Robert “Buzz” Patterson shared it to X-formerly-Twitter with the caption “our government has failed us again.”
Loomer soon shared Patterson’s post, writing “so sad” in the caption. Which it would be — if it weren’t an obviously AI-generated fake.
The version of the “photo” that Patterson and Loomer both shared is cropped. But certain artifacts in the cropped version are immediately suspect, particularly the young girl’s uncannily smoothed features and distorted background figures. And the original photo, as shared to X yesterday bears even more telling signs of AI use, such as the girl’s oddly-shaped and overly smooth fingers.
Neither commentator hinted that the image could be an AI-generated fake, and instead shared it as if it were real proof of a governmental failure to aid Americans in Hurricane-devastated regions of Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
The incident highlights how ubiquitous AI-generated slop has become online and how it’s already being used to politicize and radicalize the public — sometimes intentionally, and sometimes unwittingly by gullible partisan pundits — in a fractured information ecosystem.
So Sad
Yet another right-wing poster shared the same photo earlier today, this time with a caption implying that Democratic vice president Kamala Harris chose to fund Ukrainian defense against Russia instead of disaster response programs — a wild oversimplification of government spending that fails to address climate change‘s role in worsening natural disasters.
This is only the latest instance of MAGA figures sharing AI-generated content on social media. But a lot of that content, for example Trump’s use of AI to falsely portray his opponent as a communist dictator, hasn’t been designed to look real so much as it’s been crafted to underscore favorite narratives or attack lines.
The latest image appears to be a more classic example of oblivious pundits embarrassingly hitting share on fake news or misinformation, while failing to give it a more critical eye.
It’s especially appalling given the sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Appalachia. By spreading fake imagery of the disaster, Loomer and her media-illiterate peers are adding insult to injury — and not helping in any meaningful way.
More on MAGA and AI: If You Zoom Into This “Photo” Trump Posted, You’ll Find Something Very Strange
