Trump shares deepfake photo of himself praying as controversial AI images of indictment spread online

Former president shares AI-generated image after deepfake arrest images viewed 5 million times

Donald Trump has shared an AI-generated image of himself praying after several deepfakes of the former president being arrested and making a run from authorities had gone viral on social media.

Mr Trump, who set off a frenzied news cycle by raising fears of his indictment by the Manhattan District Court, reshared an image of himself solemnly praying.

The picture showed Mr Trump down on one knee with folded hands and head bowed down.

The photo shared by Mr Trump without any context was a screenshot from a user called “Siggy Flicker”, that had a caption saying “pray for this man”.

Mr Trump appears to be getting in on the fun of sharing AI photos of himself after several of them had flooded online and had showed the one-time president struggle while getting arrested by authorities and even running away from them.

The photos were generated by Eliot Higgins, the founder of the open-source investigative outlet Bellingcat, who used an AI art generator tool while giving the prompt: “Donald Trump falling down while being arrested.”

“Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump’s arrest,” he had written while sharing the images.

The photos of the event that has never happened in reality have been viewed nearly 5 million times.

The new image shared by Mr Trump also looks uncannily real at first glance, but signs of the shortcomings of artificial intelligence technology become apparent on a closer look at the former president’s hands, shoes and the people around him.

Mr Trump, who can be seen joining his hands in prayer in the photo, appears to be missing a finger on his right hand, pointed out a Forbes report. His thumbs look abnormally jumbled as well, defying human anatomy, it said.

It was also pointed out that the sole of Mr Trump’s shoe had brush-like edges.

The people in the background in the photo appear to not be paying attention to Mr Trump as well. This is something that, if it were to happen in reality, would likely see the participation of the others involved or would at least attract their attention, the report said.

On Thursday, the Manhattan grand jury investigating Mr Trump over hush money payments turned to other matters, delaying until next week any vote on the indictment of the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors rebuffed a request from House Republicans for records and testimony on the investigation, a request that the general counsel to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called an “unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty”.

The prosecutors blasted Mr Trump for creating “a false expectation” of being arrested this week, without offering any update on the timing for any possible action.