Experts weigh in on whether Kamala Harris' 2024 election rally crowd photo was REALLY 'AI-doctored'

AI experts say the image of Kamala Harris' rally does show hallmarks of being heavily edited — though this was probably done using basic filters rather than AI.

Donald Trump caused a furor over the weekend after claiming the picture had been 'A.I.'d' to boost the size of Harris' crowd in Michigan and exaggerate her popularity.

The former president and some of his online supports pointed to the unusual lack of crowd reflection on the plane's turbine as evidence the image had been doctored.

DailyMail.com spoke to several tech experts who ran the image through software that checks for evidence of AI manipulation. They concluded there was only a four percent chance it has been warped using the software. 

But it's possible the photo had been heavily filtered and edited, they said. And the plane's curved reflective surface also creates an illusion where objects above and below the surface are most visible and dominate the reflection, they added.

The former president and his supporters pointed out the lack of a crowd reflecting in the belly of the craft as evidence of manipulation, but experts told DailyMail.com that is due to people being farther away than what is perceived 

Experts likened the lack of people in the plane's reflection to the same illusion created by The Bean sculpture in Chicago, where crowds of tourists can be standing directly in front of it yet the skyscrapers and sidewalk dominate the image in the reflection

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Professor Hany Farid from the the University of California analyzed the photo with two models trained to detect patterns of generative AI.

'Neither model found any evidence of manipulation,' he said, but admitted that after 'comparing several versions of this photo, I think the only alteration was some simple brightness/contrast and perhaps sharpening.'

Professor Farid explained that a curved mirror surface like the body of the plane, 'objects above and below the surface are most visible and dominate the reflection' such as the sky and tarmac.

'Objects that are further away and more centered are compressed and less visible,' such as crowds standing directly in front of the plane.

He likened it to the illusion created by The Bean sculpture in Chicago, where crowds of tourists can be standing directly in front of it yet the skyscrapers and sidewalk dominate the image in the reflection.

John Renaud, founder of AI image verification tool Winston AI, also confirmed that the image was not doctored by the tech after running it through his system, which determined it was '96 percent human.'

But he conceded the photo had probably been edited, which may have contributed to the overall impression that something appears 'off' with the image.

AI expert Kartik Ahuja, the founder of GrowthScribe, a marketing company that specializes in AI, told DailyMail.com that the images from the rally looked like 'a combination of being AI-doctored and edited'.

He did not run the images through an AI detector. 

AI experts have revealed that the image of Kamala Harris' rally in Michigan may have been edited, but not to the extent claimed by Donald Trump. They suggested the photo may have been edited to add brightness and contrast

Trump shared his claims on Truth Social this weekend, branding Harris a 'cheater' for using AI to fill what he said was an empty airport.

'Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?' he wrote. 'There was nobody at the plane, and she 'AI'd' it, and showed a massive 'crowd' of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN'T EXIST!'

'She's a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting and the 'crowd' looks like 10,000 people!' he continued. 'Same thing is happening with her fake 'crowds' at her speeches.'

'This is the way Democrats win Elections,' Trump argued. 'She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE.

'Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!'

Other Republicans have made similar claims, with commentator Dinesh D'Souza telling his followers to 'check the reflection in the plane.

The former president derided his opponent on Truth Social as a 'cheater'

'Does this look like a real picture to you?' he asked on Saturday.

Another X user also claimed that 'if you look closely at the paint job of the airplane, you'll notice that the crowd does not reflect in the paint.

'Her crowd is fake. Her voters are fake. Her marriage is fake. Her political career is fake,' the X user wrote.

Some social media users pointed out the hands and fingers of the people in the crowd, which they claimed appeared distorted in the image

Trump shared his claims on Truth Social this weekend, branding Harris a 'cheater' for using AI to fill what he said was an empty airport 

'In the case of the Harris photo, the crowd looks like it is very close to the plane, but I suspect they are far enough away that this effect is at play.

'A second issue is that the plane appears to be rotated relative to the viewer, and because the camera is so far away even a small rotation of the reflecting surface will cause what is reflected to move significantly.'

Some social media users pointed out the hands and fingers of the people in the crowd, which they claimed appeared distorted in the image.

AI has trouble producing images of proper hands, making them longer or with too many fingers.

This phenomenon occurs because AI uses pattern-seeking to generate images.

It can detect the pattern of people having hands, and that hands have fingers, but it does not know that there needs to be a particular amount of fingers.

There is a portion of the image that does look like a deformed hand.

'At first glance, it looks like the head of the person in front is continuing through the arm of the person in back,' Farid explained.

'What is happening here is a coincidental alignment of the person's bracelet. Have a look at this higher-resolution image.'