Unfortunately, in the world of AI it's becoming increasingly hard to distinguish what is and isn't real, which is why Donald Trump's willingness to deploy a fake endorsement from Taylor Swift ahead of the US election is so dangerous.
As the Republican nominee on the ballot in November, everything Trump says and does has huge reach. Last weekend, he shared an AI-generated poster from his official social media accounts that says, 'Taylor wants you to vote Donald Trump' with a picture of the singer in an Uncle Sam outfit, wearing a jacket and hat covered in the American flag. Trump captioned the post, 'I accept.'
He then shared screenshots of posts by a pair of right-wing X accounts, which include multiple AI-generated photos of women wearing tops with the slogan 'Swifties For Trump,' mixed with one real image of a woman wearing a similar shirt.
Given that Taylor has enough fans to sway an election, cause 2.3 magnitude seismic activity at concert and top global music charts with re-recorded albums, Trump's fake endorsement is a calculated one. It's already prompted breakout search terms including, 'Does Taylor Swift support Donald Trump?', 'Did Taylor Swift vote for Donald Trump?' and 'Does Taylor Swift like Donald Trump?'
In other words, despite a track record of falsifying business records, being charged for conspiring to defraud the US and the fact Trump is the first former president to be a convicted criminal, there is still a strong chance that millions of people might question whether Taylor Swift has actually endorsed Donald Trump.
Has Taylor Swift endorsed Donald Trump?
It's worth clarifying that Taylor Swift has not publicly endorsed any presidential candidate, though she did endorse Joe Biden in 2020.
In 2019, the 'All Too Well' singer also spoke out against Trump and his presidency and said, 'We’re a democracy – at least, we’re supposed to be – where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think that he thinks this is an autocracy.'
Regardless of what she has said in the past, it should not be Taylor's responsibility to debunk the far-reaching and entirely falsified endorsement given that she played no part in its creation. She might have a staggeringly large number of fans at her beck and call, but she is not involved in the election and is not obligated to endorse anyone. This is one of the most worrying features of AI - that your likeness, voice, identity and image can all be manipulated without your consent.
AI is a force to be reckoned with, and while we are slowly becoming more aware of its power, it's not something the majority of people have a strong understanding of yet. In March, an AI-generated picture of Pope Francis wearing a huge white puffer jacket went viral because it tricked so many people. None of us are totally immune to spotting a fake image, especially as AI becomes more and more advanced.
It's incredibly alarming, then, that Trump is so willing to use nefarious methods to get ahead in the polls, especially since his rival Democrat Kamala Harris has just overtaken him, despite only joining the race a month ago. Trump recently shared a post attacking Kamala Harris' voting records and implying that she is a communist. He posted an AI-generated picture of Harris addressing the Democratic convention crowd in Chicago with a hammer and sickle in the background, which is a known communist symbol.
As a convicted criminal, you'd hope that most people know to question everything Trump says and does, but that is not the reality. The current polls suggest the two candidates are neck and neck, which means every day before 5 November counts.
Fortunately, in the instance of his fake Taylor Swift endorsement, a huge number of Taylor's real fans have already mobilised in response. Although they are not affiliated with the singer herself, 'Swifties4Kamala' has 61k followers on X and 40k followers on Instagram. And in response to 'Swifties4Trump' trending, the account wrote: 'We're just gonna shake, shake, shake it off' and shared a link to register to vote.
Now that it has been widely reported across international news outlets that Trump's Taylor Swift posts were fake, they have been removed from his social media pages. However, the same can't be said for the rest of his posts. Trump is clearly willing to deceive the public in any way that he can, and if artificial intelligence is one of his apparent campaign tools, then everyone should remain vigilant.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, covering TV, celebrity interviews, news and features.