A deepfake image of President Donald Trump using a walker was created with AI and spread across social media platforms, receiving millions of views before being debunked as fake through AI detection tools.
In mid-December 2025, an AI-generated deepfake image purporting to show U.S. President Donald Trump using a walker as a mobility aid was posted on X by Democratic political strategist Keith Edwards. The image quickly spread across multiple social media platforms including X, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky, receiving millions of views. The image was created using artificial intelligence software and contained Google's SynthID digital watermark, which was detected by Google's AI assistant Gemini when users uploaded the image for verification. Multiple AI detection tools including Sightengine and Hive Moderation confirmed the image was highly likely to be AI-generated. Edwards' post suggested the photo was 'leaked' and used the word 'breaking,' implying it was authentic news. The incident occurred as Trump signed an executive order creating national standards for AI regulation. Fact-checking organizations including Snopes investigated and debunked the image, finding no evidence it was authentic. Some social media users appeared to interpret the post as satirical, though Edwards had not clarified his intent at the time of reporting.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed