Former President Donald Trump made a false claim on Friday, suggesting that a decades-old photo of him with writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming, might have been created using artificial intelligence (AI). This claim is in stark contrast to Trump’s previous acknowledgment that the photo is authentic.
Trump’s comments came after he and Carroll appeared in a federal appeals court, where he sought a new trial in a civil case that resulted in a $5 million damages award to Carroll. During his remarks, Trump said, “I never met a woman, or then this picture – which could’ve been AI-generated, I don’t know, showed up out of nowhere. But it’s a fine, nice picture.”
Facts First: No Basis for AI Claim
re is no credible basis for Trump’s suggestion that photo might be AI-generated. The image in question has been publicly circulating since 2019, the same year Carroll accused Trump of sexual assault. She shared photos with media outlets as part of her claim. Trump has previously admitted the photo is real, albeit insisting it captured an insignificant interaction.
Photo, taken at a party Carroll believes occurred in 1987, shows Trump, his n-wife Ivana Trump, Carroll, and her n-husband John Johnson engaged in a conversation. Carroll claims this interaction happened years before Trump allegedly assaulted her in the mid-1990s.
Experts like Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in digital forensics, dismiss Trump’s AI-generated claim as implausible. Farid notes that generative AI technology was still in its infancy in 2019 when photos first surfaced. “Re is nothing in this photo that would suggest that it is AI-generated in terms of visual artifacts,” Farid explained, calling Trump’s claim a classic example of “Liar’s Dividend,” where the mere existence of deepfakes allows people to falsely claim something is fake.
Trump’s Prior Acknowledgment of Photo
Trump has previously acknowledged the authenticity of the photo during a 2022 deposition, stating that although he didn’t recall meeting Carroll, the picture showed him shaking her or her husband’s hand in a “celebrity line” at an event. He downplayed the significance of interaction, claiming he had no idea who Carroll was at the time.
In an earlier speech in Iowa in 2024, Trump made similar comments, admitting that the photo was real but continuing to downplay the encounter. Even during Friday’s court appearance, after suggesting the photo could have been AI-generated, Trump reiterated that the photo was taken at a “celebrity line.”
Carroll has consistently stated that the photo captured a brief interaction between two, lasting five or six minutes. Despite Trump’s repeated attempts to downplay the encounter, the photo remains a real image of a genuine interaction.
