From NPR All Things Considered
Why false claims that a picture of a Kamala Harris rally was AI-generated matter
By Jude Joffe-Block
One of the things being litigated in this presidential campaign is whether the crowds at rallies are even real.
At a Detroit aircraft hangar last week, the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, stepped off Air Force Two and were greeted by thousands of supporters. NPR’s Tamara Keith was there to see it...
Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who specializes in forensic images, ran the Harris campaign rally photo through two computer models to see whether there were any signs of patterns consistent with generative artificial intelligence or manipulation — and found none.
“This is an example where just the mere existence of deepfakes and generative AI allows people to deny reality,” Farid said. “You don’t like the fact that Harris-Walz had such a big crowd? No problem. Photos are fake. Videos are fake. Everything’s fake...”
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley and a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project.
