Fact check: Trump falsely says real photo of him with Carroll might have been ‘AI-generated’

Former President Donald Trump falsely said Friday that a decades-old photo of him with E. Jean Carroll, the writer he has been found liable for sexually abusing and defaming, might have been created using artificial intelligence – though Trump has previously acknowledged that the photo is authentic.

Trump spoke Friday after he and Carroll appeared in a federal appeals court where he sought a new trial in a civil case in which he has been ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.

“I never met the woman, other than this picture – which could’ve been AI-generated, I don’t know, showed up out of nowhere. But it’s fine, nice picture,” Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said during a lengthy diatribe against Carroll and other women who have accused him of sexual assault.

Facts First: There is simply no basis for Trump’s claim that the photo might have been “AI-generated.” The photo has been publicly circulating since 2019, the year Carroll accused Trump of sexual assault and shared the photo with media outlets, and there is no indication it is a fake. In fact, Trump has previously admitted the photo is real, though he has said it captured an insignificant interaction.

The photo shows a group conversation involving Trump, his then-wife Ivana Trump, Carroll and her then-husband John Johnson. Carroll has said the photo was taken at a party she believes was held in 1987, years before she says Trump assaulted her in the mid-1990s.

There is no reason to think it is anything other than a real photo.

“Given that this image has been circulating for more than five years – when generative AI was still in its most nascent stage – the claim that this is AI-generated is, at best, implausible. In addition, there is nothing in this photo that would suggest that it is AI generated in terms of visual artifacts,” said Hany Farid, a University of California, Berkeley, professor specializing in digital forensics.

Farid continued: “This seems like a classic example of the Liar’s Dividend, in which the mere existence of deepfakes allows liars to claim anything – regardless of how implausible – is fake.”

Trump has acknowledged the photo is real

Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan asked Trump during a 2022 deposition if he had been making a true statement when he claimed in 2019 that he had never met Carroll.

Trump responded: “It was a true statement when I made it. I think subsequently or at some point they showed a picture on a receiving – I was on a celebrity line for a charity, and I think I was either shaking her hand or her husband’s hand on a receiving line. … I shake a lot of hands with people, but I had no idea who she was.”

Trump made similar comments about the photo in a speech in Iowa early in 2024, downplaying the photo but acknowledging it was taken at an event he attended. And even on Friday, right after making the “AI-generated” claim,” Trump said the photo was taken while he participated in a “celebrity line.”

Carroll has said the conversation with Trump shown in the photo lasted about five or six minutes. Regardless of the nature or depth of the interaction, it was a real interaction captured on film.

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