AI Image of Kamala Harris at DNC with Communist Flags Circulated by Trump

Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image on social media that falsely depicted Kamala Harris speaking at a DNC event surrounded by communist imagery including the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union. The image was intended to undermine Harris ahead of the Democratic National Convention and to suggest that her views are aligned with communism.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.1 Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale

The incident involved using an AI-generated image to conduct political influence at scale, targeting public opinion and the democratic process ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

Additional risk subdomains

• 3.1 False or misleading information: The AI-generated image represents a fabricated event, creating false visual evidence to mislead voters.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The incident was caused by a human user intentionally generating and sharing a synthetic image to achieve a political objective after the AI system was deployed.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3: Limited Risk. The report describes the use of AI-generated content (deepfakes), which falls under transparency obligations to ensure users are aware of the AI's nature.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: unspecified
• AI purpose: Deepfake Image Generation; Image Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown image generator
• Alleged deployer: Donald Trump
• Alleged harmed parties: Kamala Harris, Electoral integrity, Democratic National Committee, Democracy

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Minor
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Minor, indirect Minor
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Minor
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: Yes, the report describes the creation and sharing of a fake, politically motivated AI-generated image designed to attack a political opponent.

Directly caused: An AI-generated image of Kamala Harris speaking at a communist rally was created and posted on Truth Social and X, reaching millions of followers.

Indirectly caused: The post fueled further personal and political attacks, including fundraising emails calling Harris and Walz 'Dangerously Liberal' and accusing them of supporting 'Soviet Style Price Controls'.

Democracy

Reported: Yes, the report describes the use of AI-generated disinformation to influence public opinion and manipulate political processes during a presidential election.

Directly caused: The Republican presidential nominee shared a fabricated image of his Democratic rival to mislead voters and undermine her campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

Indirectly caused: The incident contributes to the normalization of synthetic media in political campaigns, potentially eroding public trust in democratic elections and visual evidence.

Inferred additional harm: The widespread dissemination of political deepfakes may lead to broader public cynicism and a decreased ability for voters to distinguish real campaign events from fabricated ones.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes, the report describes the generation and spread of a fake photo depicting a fabricated event.

Directly caused: An AI-generated image falsely depicting Kamala Harris speaking in front of a Soviet hammer and sickle in Chicago was published on mainstream social media platforms.

Indirectly caused: The image was used to support false claims that Harris is a communist, polluting the information ecosystem with synthetic political propaganda.

Inferred additional harm: The incident likely misled some social media users who may have believed the image was real, further eroding a shared consensus reality during an election cycle.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 1
• People reportedly exposed: 50000

Potential causes

Management

• Ethical Standards Deficit: Campaign leadership failed to enforce ethical standards regarding AI.
• Prioritizing Viral Engagement: The campaign prioritized viral reach over information integrity.

Technology

• AI Image Generation Tools: Advanced tools allow easy creation of realistic synthetic images.
• Lack of Automated Detection: Social media platforms failed to automatically detect and flag the AI image.

Data Inputs

• Synthetic Visual Elements: The image combined a real politician's likeness with fictional symbols.
• Misleading Contextual Prompts: Prompts merged Chicago DNC context with Soviet communist imagery.

Human Factors

• Intentional Misinformation: A political figure knowingly shared a fake image to attack an opponent.
• Audience Polarization: Highly polarized audiences are more likely to accept fake images as real.

Process and Methods

• Inadequate Content Filtering: X and Truth Social lacked robust filters to stop deceptive AI content.
• Lack of Pre-Post Verification: No verification process was conducted by the poster before sharing.

Regulatory Environment

• Weak AI Campaign Regulations: There are no strong laws banning the use of AI deepfakes in elections.
• Lack of Platform Accountability: Regulators do not hold social platforms liable for hosting fake images.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The reports provide clear and consistent details about the incident, including the specific image posted, the platforms used, and the political context. There is no ambiguity regarding the actions taken by the human actor.
• Ambiguities identified: The specific AI image generator used to create the synthetic image is not identified.

Former President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image of Vice President Kamala Harris in front of Soviet imagery on social media. While demonstrating the evolving role of synthetic media in political campaigns and its potential to pollute the information ecosystem, the incident represents a domestic political attack with minor national security implications.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: United States
• Alleged perpetrator: Donald Trump

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. Represents an ongoing strategic concern regarding the normalization of synthetic media in democratic elections rather than an active crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI system was used strictly as a tool, generating the image based on direct human prompts with no autonomous decision-making.
• Novelty: Evolved capability. Reflects an evolved capability where high-quality synthetic media is easily generated and rapidly deployed by major political figures.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical security threat, kinetic actions, or critical infrastructure manipulation occurred during this social media incident.
• Information security: Minor. Represents domestic political disinformation using synthetic media, impacting the information ecosystem but manageable within standard platform and regulatory procedures.
• Sovereignty: Minor. Involves domestic political campaigning and election influence using synthetic media, but does not disrupt core government operations or sovereign control.
• Economic security: Negligible. No economic systems, critical supply chains, or strategic technological advantages were impacted by the social media post.
• Societal stability: Minor. Contributes to political polarization and the erosion of public trust in visual evidence, but does not trigger mass civil unrest or systemic human rights abuses.