Two months before Election Day, a photo of singer Elton John in a pink coat with the letters “MAGA” on it surfaced on social media, suggesting the global superstar had endorsed former President Donald Trump.
But the photo wasn’t real. It’s the latest in a series of images and videos created using artificial intelligence that aim to dupe viewers into thinking their favorite celebrities have endorsed political candidates.
Stars including Will Smith and Taylor Swift have also had their likeness used to falsely claim they are supporting Trump in the upcoming presidential election.
When Swift publicly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in an Instagram post, she referenced AI-generated images that falsely suggested she had endorsed Trump, adding that the incident “brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter.”
An AI-generated video of Will Smith and Chris Rock, which amassed over 700,000 views on X, showed the stars eating large …