WASHINGTON: AI tools can easily fabricate convincing images of Jeffrey Epstein with world leaders, a study showed on Thursday (Feb 6), following a surge of manipulated photos falsely linking prominent politicians to the convicted sex offender.
Social media users have amplified AI-generated images purporting to show the convicted sex offender socialising with politicians such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his mother, award-winning filmmaker Mira Nair, AFP’s fact-checkers have previously reported.
In a new study, US disinformation watchdog NewsGuard prompted three leading image generators to create photos of Epstein with five politicians including President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Grok Imagine, a tool developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, produced “convincing fakes in seconds” with all five, the study said.
That included a fake but lifelike image purporting to show a younger Trump and Epstein surrounded by young girls.
Trump has been photographed with Epstein at multiple social events but there is no publicly known picture of the pair in the presence of underage girls.
Google’s Gemini declined to generate an image depicting Epstein with Trump but produced realistic photos of the late sex offender with four other politicians – Netanyahu and Macron as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the study said.
The fabricated photos purported to show Epstein with the politicians at parties, aboard a private jet and relaxing on a beach.
“The findings demonstrate the ease with which bad actors can use AI imaging tools to generate realistic-seeming viral fakes – and why fake images have become so routine that it’s difficult to tell authentic images from AI-generated images,” NewsGuard said.