Trump has not been arrested (not yet, at least). It was just the AI.

When former President Donald Trump announced in a scathing Truth Social post that he would be arrested on Tuesday, cities prepared for the worst. After all, he called on his followers to “protest, protest, protest” and “take back our nation”.

Its imminent arrest not so guaranteed comes on the heels of a Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into the former president’s role in paying adult film actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 in silent money towards the end of his presidential campaign for 2016.

But Tuesday has come and gone, and the former president has not been arrested – avoiding the highly anticipated but rather improbable walk of the perp.

Still, somewhat dramatic footage of law enforcement restraining Trump has begun circulating online illustrating the potential scenario, and some experts fear it could be part of an intentional disinformation campaign.

One of these messages was sent from a satire and parody page on Twitter, which job Tuesday: “BREAKING: Donald Trump has just been arrested by New York law enforcement.” The tweet included two fictional images created by artificial intelligence: one of Trump restrained by a group of five officers and another in which the former president appears to be falling or resisting arrest.

Twitter then included a note on the post saying “Donald Trump has not been arrested” and quoting BNC News And The New York Times. Images are from another user who posted a thread Monday, as noted by Twitter.

“Making photos of Trump being arrested while awaiting his arrest,” the thread read.

“As we’ve all seen, it’s so much easier to make fake videos and fake images and make them look really realistic,” Vwani Roychowdhury, a professor at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, told HuffPost. “Whether it’s correct information or socially acceptable information or misinformation, in my opinion, they are all integrated into the framework of a narrative.”

In a world of rapidly changing technology, distinguish between artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content and real content could be a challengebut skepticism is the key.

The fake images of Trump’s arrest were made using a tool called Midjourney v5, USA Today reported.

“You can see visually if it’s not done well, you can see the differences, that it can’t be a real scene. But the technology is improving almost every day, so soon it might be very hard to tell if it’s really real or not,” Roychowdhury told HuffPost.

Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat and the poster of the original images, told USA Today that people who come across these images should keep an eye out for key details.

“Generally speaking, you should be careful of people with extra limbs or fingers,” Higgins told USA Today. “The text is almost always nonsense, and the logos and badges are often messy. If you look at the police uniforms, you’ll notice that they’re all slightly different. You might also see clothes blending into each other or have strange textures.

With the existence of AI art comes the possibility of harm.

Brandeis Marshall, CEO of DataedX and professor of computer science at Spelman College, told HuffPost via email that the image circulating on social media was a prime example of misinformation and an “intentional malicious act.”

“Raising supporters of the 45 for the purpose of potentially raising funds or inciting another insurrection (January 6) is not accidental. It’s done using a calculated strategy,” Marshall said.

Trump could become the first former president and major presidential candidate be put on trial. And he’s spent the last few weeks circling a possible arrest pretend to be a martyr to his supporters.

“What will be interesting to know is how much money did he raise during that time, what expenses were incurred by state and federal law enforcement, and what other stories are not covered because so much attention has been given to this. well-executed disinformation campaign,” Marshall said.

But outside of that instance, Marshall said some additional concerns about potential damages include copyright infringement, lack of attribution, and lack of compensation.

Roychowdhury echoed Marshall’s point that such works of art could also be used to advance political causes.

“Any news story, any misinformation, put it in the context of the underlying narrative because that’s really the driving force, (but) some people would be attached to those narratives no matter what you do,” he said. said Roychowdhury.

“It doesn’t matter that someone checks the facts…. Because the damage has been done,” Roychowdhury added.

Midjourney did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.