Former President Donald Trump has alleged that his 2024 presidential rival Kamala Harris is exaggerating the size of her recent rally, sharing what he claimed as an "AI-edited phot.," However, there is no evidence that suggests that the image was altered using AI or some photoshopped.
The controversy centers around a now-viral photo from a Harris-Walz rally at Detroit Metro Airport on Wednesday, which shows a large crowd in front of Air Force Two, the vice president's official aircraft. Some right-wing commentators have incorrectly claimed that discrepancies in the news photo indicate it was digitally altered, citing the absence of a reflection on the plane's turbine as the biggest evidence.
Trump New Way of Attacking Harris
However, the crowd size could easily be verified through videos of the event. Nonetheless, Trump highlighted the issue on Sunday, claiming on his Truth Social platform that Harris had 'AI'd it.'
"Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "There was nobody at the plane, and she 'AI'd' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!"
"She's a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting and the 'crowd' looks like 10,000 people!' he continued. 'Same thing is happening with her fake 'crowds' at her speeches."
"This is the way Democrats win Elections," Trump argued. "She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE.
"Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!"
Other Republicans have echoed similar claims, with commentator Dinesh D'Souza urging his followers to "check the reflection in the plane."
"Does this look like a real picture to you?" he asked on Saturday.
Another X user also alleged that "if you look closely at the paint job of the airplane, you'll notice that the crowd does not reflect in the paint."
"Her crowd is fake. Her voters are fake. Her marriage is fake. Her political career is fake," the X user wrote.
The Truth
The size of the crowd at the Harris rally can be easily verified through event videos. Fact-checking site Snopes reported that the Winston AI Detector found the image to be "96 percent human," suggesting it was "likely photographed by a person rather than generated by AI."
Snopes noted that while the photograph might have undergone some digital manipulation of lighting, shadows, or filtering, the overall image was not created artificially. Spectrum News confirmed that the crowd was real, with thousands attending the rally.
Many attendees shared their own photos and videos, and the event was livestreamed by numerous news outlets and attended by several prominent politicians.
According to Michigan outlet MLive, around 15,000 people filled the hangar, with the crowd extending onto the tarmac. Getty Images photographer Andrew Harnick also defended the authenticity of his photograph.
"It was a large crowd, and the pictures that I took that are on the Getty website speak to that," he told the Daily Beast.
Harnick explained that he used a zoom lens, which can make objects appear closer than they actually are. "The plane is actually a pretty far distance from the crowd,' he said, noting that he has covered politics for decades and has not shown any biases.
"We keep our opinions to ourselves and just cover what we see in front of us," Harnick said of photographers.
The Harris campaign has now hit back at Trump, criticizing him for spreading the unfounded accusation.
"1) This is an actual photo of a 15,000-person crowd for Harris-Walz in Michigan," the campaign posted on X.
"2) Trump has still not campaigned in a swing state in over a week... Low energy?"
