--- title: "Trump Is So Mad About Harris’ Huge Crowds That He’s Lying That They’re AI-Generated" description: "Former President Donald Trump wrongly accused the Harris campaign of using AI to generate fake images of large crowds of supporters." date: "2024-08-12" modified: "2024-08-12" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-mad-harris-crowds-lying-ai-generated" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "2024 election" - "ai" - "donald trump" - "the digest" --- # Trump Is So Mad About Harris’ Huge Crowds That He’s Lying That They’re AI-Generated ![Former President Donald Trump wrongly accused the Harris campaign of using AI to generate fake images of large crowds of supporters.]() *\Image: Julia Beverly via Getty\* ## Size Matters Donald Trump took to the app Truth Social yesterday to claim that Vice President Kamala Harris had used AI — or, as he put it, "A.I.'d it" — to generate a picture of a big crowd greeting her at an airport. One tiny problem: Trump's claim was entirely bogus, based entirely on a widely-shared lie. "Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?" Trump [captioned]() the inaccurate "Truth," as posts to Truth Social are called. "There was nobody at the plane, and she 'A.I.'d' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!" He then added that Harris should be "disqualified \[from the presidential race\] because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE," and affixed the post with a screenshot from a post on X-formerly-Twitter of the alleged AI lie. The post, however, was from a far-right poster and election denier claiming that a "BREAKING REPORT" revealed the Harris campaign was "BUSTED" using a "FAKE crowd photo at campaign rally stop." (There was no report; it was just this dude's tweet.) In other words, a presidential candidate in the 2024 race boosted misinformation — spouted by a random poster, no less — which falsely claimed his opponent had used AI to fabricate crowd size. ## "AI'd It" A [*CNBC* photo]() of the event confirms that Harris' touchdown in Michigan indeed drew several thousand supporters to the tarmac. The Harris campaign also denied using AI to create the image, telling *C**NBC* that roughly 15,000 (actual) humans attended the rally. Speaking of size, it's been [widely reported]() that record-breaking attendance numbers at Harris rallies has been aggravating an increasingly-isolated Trump. To wit: [during a press conference]() at Mar-A-Lago last week, Trump, irritated when a reporter asked him about Harris' rally turnout, promptly compared his January 6 crowd to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, even saying that his pre-insurrection speech garnered "more people" than the civil right leader's historic address. (That [claim isn't true](), either.) "I've spoken to the biggest crowds," the former president declared, [as quoted by *The Washington Post*](). "Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me." Trump's AI lie is a perfect example of the *threat* of AI-generated media, as opposed to actual AI-generated media, being used to undermine our shared reality. The viral images from Harris' rally weren't AI-generated — but judging by the comments over on X, the allegation itself was enough to convince some posters of AI conspiracy. "What Kamala can't achieve, she will deceive," wrote one poster. **More on Trump:** [*"Trump Is a Coward" Trends on Truth Social*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()