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AI tools can easily generate realistic images of Jeffrey Epstein with world leaders, as a recent study revealed. This comes amid a spike in manipulated photos falsely associating notable politicians with the convicted sex offender.
Social media platforms have seen a proliferation of AI-created images claiming to depict Epstein socializing with figures like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. AFP fact-checkers have previously documented similar false images.
In a new investigation, NewsGuard — a U.S. disinformation watchdog — tasked three top image-generating AI platforms to create images of Epstein alongside five politicians: President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Grok Imagine, an AI tool by Elon Musk’s xAI, produced highly convincing fake images of all five within seconds. One notable fake depicted a younger Trump with Epstein, surrounded by young girls — a completely fabricated scenario, though Trump has been photographed with Epstein at social events, no publicly available images show Epstein with underage girls in Trump’s company.
Google’s Gemini refused to generate an image of Epstein with Trump but did produce realistic-looking images of Epstein with Netanyahu, Macron, Zelensky, and Starmer. These images showed Epstein with politicians at parties, on private jets, and relaxing on beaches — all fake.
NewsGuard emphasized how easily malicious actors can use AI tools to create viral, realistic-looking images, pointing out that distinguishing real photos from deepfakes is becoming increasingly challenging. When prompted, OpenAI’s ChatGPT declined to generate images of Epstein with politicians, citing its policies against creating sexually explicit content involving real people.
The researchers also detected an invisible “SynthID” watermark in the fake Epstein images, an anti-fake content indicator embedded by Google to help verify AI-generated content. Google confirmed that its watermark aims to make it easier to identify content produced with its AI tools.
This investigation follows the recent release of over three million documents, photos, and videos related to Epstein’s case by the Department of Justice, revealing widespread global associations — from Britain’s ex-prince Andrew to American intellectual Noam Chomsky and Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit. However, the flood of information has also fueled disinformation campaigns.
Earlier this week, a false social media post falsely attributed a comment to Donald Trump, claiming he pledged to eliminate tariffs against Canada if Prime Minister Mark Carney admitted Epstein involvement — though no evidence supports Carney’s links to Epstein’s criminal activities.
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini AI
Grok AI
