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Trump’s crowd-size lies get an AI upgrade

August 13, 2024
Scott Nover
​US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz hold a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Aug. 7, 2024.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz hold a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Aug. 7, 2024.
REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
Donald Trump has lied about crowd sizes for years. But now he’s claiming — falsely — that Kamala Harris’ rallies aren’t as popular as they are. “Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?” Trump posted on Truth Social. “There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.‘d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!”

Trump claimed that the Harris campaign used artificial intelligence to manufacture a crowd where there wasn’t one. Except there was. Harris and running mate Tim Walz held a rally at a packed airplane hangar at Detroit Metro Airport last week, with news outlets estimating that 15,000 people were there. The Harris campaign pushed back against Trump, posting on X, “1) This is an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan, 2) Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week ... Low energy?”

While AI can be used to confuse people, its absence doesn’t negate that. Politicians can claim any image they don’t like is AI — even if the facts don’t support it.

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