Photos of Donald Trump’s arrest went viral on social media in recent days, leading many to believe they were real. But it was all just a journalist’s joke using Artificial Intelligence programs, more specifically the Midjourney tool.
Taking advantage of the former US president’s comment last week that he would be arrested on Tuesday, Eliot Higgins, founder and creative director of the investigative news consortium Bellingcat, resorted to artificial intelligence programs and then posted the result to social networks: photos of Trump being arrested with some violence in the mix and with the following comment: “Take pictures of Trump being arrested while I wait for him to be arrested”.
The photos immediately went viral and were so realistic at first glance that they led some well-known agencies to verify their veracity – the conclusion was clear that they were fake. In fact, with due attention, some details soon dropped their veracity to the ground, as the author explained.
“The images of Trump’s arrest show how AI tools can be both good and bad. In one of the images, Trump has three legs and a police belt. I assumed people would understand that Trump has two legs, not three, but that hasn’t stopped many from thinking they’re real photos, which kind of shows the lack of critical thinking skills in our education system,” he said. Eliot Higgins, quoted by the AP.
The Midjourney tool analyzes all available photos on a given subject and then transforms them on demand. But, as in this case, with some imperfections. Last week, a photo of French President Emmanuel Macron also went viral during the protests against the retirement age. Something that clearly never happened.
Donald Trump spoke of himself in the third person last Saturday: “The leading Republican nominee and former US president will be arrested on Tuesday”. And then the appeal to the supporters: “Protest, take our country back!” It was about a possible accusation against the former US president for buying a porn actress’ silence for the 2016 election. But that didn’t happen.
Source: DN
