The background to this are statements by Trump's running mate J.D. Vance, who claimed that illegal immigrants from Haiti were stealing and eating pets in the US state of Ohio. US media, citing authorities in the allegedly affected city of Springfield, reported that no such incidents were known - but this did not stop Republicans from spreading the horror story with fake images.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz, for example, published a cat photo in response to Vance that read: "Please vote for Trump so that migrants from Haiti don't eat us." Tech billionaire and X owner Musk shared a picture of a chick and a cat on his platform and wrote: "Save them!"

Vance also added on X: "In recent weeks, my office has received many inquiries from Springfield residents reporting that their neighbors' pets or nearby animals have been abducted by Haitian migrants. It is, of course, possible that all of these rumors will turn out to be false."

Trump as animal rescuer
Since then, various Republicans have been publishing AI-generated cat pictures - including Trump on his mouthpiece Truth Social. In one picture, he can be seen in an airplane surrounded by cats and ducks. He also published a picture of a cat holding a machine gun and wearing a MAGA cap. MAGA stands for "Make America Great Again" and is Trump's campaign slogan.

Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace posted an AI-generated picture on X showing Trump with a cat under his arm and a goose next to him.

AI proliferation
This is not the first time that AI-generated images have caused a stir in the US election campaign. Just a few weeks ago, Trump posted a supposed picture of pop superstar Taylor Swift on Truth Social, dressed in the national colors red, white and blue, with an invitation to vote for Donald Trump. Bad luck for him: After the first TV duel on Tuesday, Swift officially announced that she was giving her vote to Kamala Harris.

X-owner Musk had also previously railed against the Democratic US presidential candidate on his short message service: he published a photo of Harris showing her in the uniform of a communist dictator.

Mike Harvey, who is fighting for a Senate position for the Democrats in Florida, called Musk's action with the AI image "simply dangerous". He wrote to the billionaire: "Don't you think this mixture of extreme manipulation and infamous lies is dangerous when it's spread by the richest person on the planet on his own social media platform?"

Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican Party, also advised Musk to withdraw from his own social media platform: "You should really take an X break."

Laws are missing
Trump himself has been a big fan of glorifying himself through AI images since March 2023. Among other things, he has shared posts from his fans who have digitally mounted his face in photos of a soldier from the Second World War, a cowboy or a muscle-bound rambo.

He benefits from the fact that in the USA, there are as good as no bans on using fake photos or videos generated by artificial intelligence as a weapon in election campaigns. Although new laws for nationwide restrictions are being discussed in Congress, they will not be passed before the presidential election on November 5.

This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.