WASHINGTON: An AI-generated video of Republican Donald Trump devouring french fries has circulated online as if it was real.
A post on Threads shared the 10-second clip featuring Trump in a black and yellow apron, enthusiastically eating fries in a kitchen.
This scene resembles photos taken by Reuters during Trump’s visit to a fast-food firm’s in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, on October 20, which he partly used to mock his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris. Trump has claimed, without evidence, that Harris lied about working at the fast-food chain during her college years.
Some comments on the clip seem to take it seriously, with remarks like “So gross!” and “Unbelievable!!?” However, the video is not authentic.
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The AI detection tool TrueMedia.org found “substantial evidence” that the video has been manipulated. James O’Brien, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, pointed out signs of AI creation, such as Trump having extra fingers, parts of the fries box disappearing as he eats, fries floating in mid-air, and elements of Trump’s face, hand, fries, and the box flickering in and out of view.
Siwei Lyu, a professor of computer science and engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, also noted several indicators that the video is AI-generated. “The background is completely static, suggesting it was made using a text-to-video generation model like Runway or Pika,” Lyu explained.
VERDICT: The video of Trump eating fries is synthetic media and shows clear signs of AI manipulation.
