
In a survey of over 2,700 AI researchers, most respondents expressed concerns that the development of artificial intelligence that surpasses human intelligence, known as superintelligence, could pose a 5% chance or more of causing human extinction. But for now, AI is a fun way to photoshop images and cause internet chaos.
After finding himself the target of an AI hoax, former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to express his concerns over the potential weaponization of the technology against political opponents. Calling AI “very dangerous” for the country, he noted that a photoshopped image of him sitting next to Jeffrey Epstein on a plane was an example of “what Democrats do to their Republican opponent” who is beating them in the polls.
Trump also stated unequivocally that he has never been on Epstein’s plane or visited his “stupid” island.
The image went viral and even fooled Marvel films’ The Hulk actor, Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo shared the image and later was forced to issue a grudging apology. While he acknowledged that the image was fake, he insisted that “the fact that Trump was on Epstein’s plane” was not.
Recently, unsealed documents disclosed the names of 180 individuals associated with Jeffrey Epstein, including Trump. However, a witness in a 2016 deposition mentioned that she had never seen Trump visiting any of Epstein’s properties.
In early January, a photo allegedly showing Trump sitting alongside Epstein on a private jet was posted by a Facebook user named David H. Hock. Hock’s caption read, “This is a picture of two guys on a private jet, going to a private island, that didn’t know each other.”
It didn’t take long for the picture to make the rounds, with Trump critics pointing to it as evidence that the former President was cozy with disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. But it also didn’t take long for a forensic investigation to reveal the image was 100% fake and, in fact, another version of an equally fake image.
Associate Professor Walter Scheirer has stated that the image in question shows signs of being created by artificial intelligence. He also pointed out a notable error in the blurry image where Jeffrey Epstein appears to have three legs.
According to Scheirer, the person who remade the image intentionally reduced its quality, made it look older, and hid some flaws. It seems they went back to fix mistakes in the original version by blurring them, making them less noticeable. Professor James O’Brien, another computer science expert from UC Berkeley, shares a similar view about the viral image and its original form.
Most AI experts who weighed in on the image shared the opinion that the recent version of the photo has signs of multiple retouching efforts to make it appear older. They point to subtle differences between the new AI image and the original faked image, such as removing a face that could be seen just over Trump’s shoulder in the original photo. Further, in the first photoshopped image, Epstein, who was never married, wore a wedding band. The band was removed for the recent faked photo.
The second photo’s ability to elude detection as an AI-generated image was alarming. The original version of the image had a high likelihood, about 98.6%, of being generated by artificial intelligence, according to the analysis on Illuminarty, an online AI image detection tool. But the second retouched, deliberately blurred image had only a 14.3% chance of being AI-generated using one detection software and only 0.1% using a different tool.
While the retouched photo only began circulating earlier this month, the original version has been around since May 2023. Additionally, three other images have been making the rounds, each reportedly depicting Trump alongside Epstein. One photo allegedly shows Trump and Ivanka standing beside Epstein, another “shows” Trump and Epstein sitting on a beige-colored couch with two girls, and the third depicts Trump and Epstein on a sofa with one girl.
All three additional photos have also been proven to be 100% fake manipulations through AI.
Democrats and Trump haters have a new weapon in their Never Trump agenda, and they aren’t afraid to use it. AI may eventually take down civilization, but liberals will first harness its power to take down one pesky political problem named Donald Trump.