US3 min(s) read
President Donald Trump has responded to the viral AI image circulating, depicting him kissing a mystery blonde woman on a golf course.
The US leader made a trip to Ireland over the weekend alongside his sons and members of his staff, including executive assistant Natalie Harp.
Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday night (September 16) to address the infamous image for the first time.
It looked to show the 80-year-old stealing a smooch from his aide Natalie Harp, 35, who is also known as The Human Printer.
As the photo started to circulate on social media, the White House declined to provide real photos of Trump and Harp golfing for comparison, but a spokesperson described the viral image as "clearly a fake photo".
Now, the President has responded with an AI-generated image of his own.
The President has seemingly seen these images, as he went on a characteristic Truth Social spree, with one image stealing the headlines.
Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself looking unhappy, as he stands in a fenced-off area with police officers behind him.
He captioned the image, 'The Hoax Buster', with no other context given to the post.
The President is no stranger to using AI for his posts on social media, with his recent posting spree involving artificial images of himself running for President in 2028, as well as portraits of himself as past presidents.
When it comes to the viral image of the President and his aide, two are being shared online, with one in significantly higher resolution.
Snopes investigated the image and found more reasons to question its authenticity.
They also contacted political commentator Keith Edwards after the image appeared in a thumbnail for one of his YouTube videos.
"My thumbnail team found the image online. We did not create or alter the underlying image, but we also did not independently verify its original source or that the woman pictured is Natalie Harp. Given that only the back of her head is visible, I don’t think her identity can be confirmed from this image alone," Edwards said.
Snopes found apparent signs of AI manipulation in the higher-resolution version, including the six-fingered hand and a watermark associated with generative AI tools.
Deepfake expert Hany Farid also analyzed the images and explained: "The high-resolution version was clearly derived from the lower-resolution version and has a SynthID watermark.
"As for the lower-resolution version, there is not a lot to go on here given the quality and resolution."
He ultimately concluded: "At this point, I’d say the authenticity is inconclusive."
While the picture continues to circulate online, there is no credible evidence that Trump and Harp were actually pictured kissing.
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