CLAIM: Image shows President Trump walking through floodwaters after Hurricane Helen
A Sept. 30 Facebook post (direct link, archived link) shows former President Donald Trump walking across a flooded road wearing an orange life jacket.
The post’s caption reads, “I don’t think FB wants this photo posted on FB.” “They keep removing it.”
The post was shared more than 160,000 times in two days. The image was also shared on Instagram.
Fact Check Team Details: How we choose and investigate claims | Email Newsletter | Facebook Page
Our rating: changed
Experts and AI detection tools confirmed that this image was generated by AI. There is no evidence that Trump walked through floodwaters as a result of Hurricane Helen.
Trump’s flood photo is AI
On September 30, President Trump surveyed the damage caused by Hurricane Helen in the battleground state of Georgia, where residents affected by the Category 4 storm left at least 180 people dead and nearly 1 million homes and businesses without power. I talked with them.
However, an image shared on the same day showing the former president walking on a flooded road is not legitimate.
Walter Shirer, an engineering professor at the University of Notre Dame, told USA TODAY that the image is likely “the product of a generative AI algorithm.”
“One of the key pieces of evidence is that both men’s clothing appeared to be dry,” Shirer said. “If they were walking through water, they would be drenched. The effects of that can be seen in the actual photos of the hurricane. Moreover, this is a fairly low-quality rendering, with no splashes or splashes. There are visible unnatural artifacts around the hood of a truck in the background. ”
James O’Brien, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, similarly said the images were digitally generated. He noted several inconsistencies with Trump’s appearance in the image, including that the strap of his life jacket appeared to be hanging over the right side of his face and that his face appeared dirty.
“We believe Mr. Trump’s face was added to another image, and the software that added the image made an error in blending the edges,” O’Brien said.
The photo contains several other signs of digital fabrication, including that President Trump and the man next to him have only four fingers on each hand, and that the writing on their hats and life jackets is illegible. are. AI generators struggle to produce realistic hands and readable text.
Hive Moderation’s AI detection tools determined that this image was generated by AI 99.9% of the time.
FACT CHECK: Footage of unrelated storm incorrectly linked to Hurricane Helen
There are no credible reports that the former president walked through floodwaters during his visit to Georgia. Photos taken during the trip show him wearing a black suit and red tie, rather than the blue long-sleeved shirt seen in the viral image.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories and PolitiFact also debunked this claim.
Our fact-checking sources:
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app, and e-newspaper here.
USA TODAY is a certified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network. The network requires a proven commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness, and transparency. Our fact-checking work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.
