Donald Trump and AI: how this technology became key in the US president’s communication

Similar AI messages have also been used by other branches of the Trump administration, as well as some of the president’s rivals.

One of Trump’s posts shows him playing soccer in the Oval Office with Cristiano Ronaldo, whom he described as a “great guy” and someone “very smart and cool.”

In another post made with AI, he is seen with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while sunbathing at a luxury hotel complex. In the background you can see a sign that says “Trump Gaza.”

The video was released after the US president last year proposed turning Gaza into “the Riviera of the Middle East”, a suggestion that earned him heavy criticism.

Pope, lion, conductor

Both Trump and the White House have released images showing the president dressed as the pope, roaring next to a lion, or as a conductor at the Kennedy Center.

“Welcome to the first administration of the United States White House to adopt and use images generated by artificial intelligence in its daily communication,” said a report from the Poynter media institute, a non-profit organization.

“With AI, Trump spreads stereotypes and false narratives in posts that boil down complex issues to the most basic talking points, regardless of their factual basis,” he said.

Trump has dedicated his most provocative AI posts to his rivals and critics, using them to whip up his conservative base.

Last year, it released an AI video of former President Barack Obama being detained in the Oval Office, then behind bars in an orange uniform.

“For someone like Trump, unregulated generative AI is the perfect tool to draw attention and distort reality,” Nora Benavidez, senior adviser at advocacy group Free Press, told AFP.

“Campaign without pause”

Analysts say that AI messages amount to a campaign strategy through “trolling,” a tactic that may resonate with younger voters ahead of the midterm legislative elections this year.

“While in many ways it is desirable for the president to stay out of the race and not share AI-generated images, Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he sees his time in office as a non-stop political campaign,” Joshua Tucker, co-director of the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University, told AFP.

“We must see the use of political images created with AI as one of its tools – text publications being another – that it uses to continue this campaign,” he added.

In a study published last month by the scientific journal Nature, a group of academics, including David G. Rand of Cornell University, reported that human-AI dialogues can have a significant effect on electoral decisions.

Exchanges with AI tools advocating for political candidates substantially impacted the preferences of opposition voters in the United States, Canada and Poland, according to the study.

In a sign of its potential, Trump’s strategy has been imitated by other officials in his administration, as well as some of his political rivals.

Trump’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr – criticized for promoting medical misinformation – recently promoted the “Make Santa Healthy Again” Christmas campaign (a nod to the MAGA slogan). Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) published AI images of its anti-immigration operations.

Last month, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, mocked the president with an AI video on X that showed Trump and two of his top officials handcuffed.