WAPO: Viral images of Trump kissing Natalie Harp are AI-generated fakes

Viral images purporting to show US President Donald Trump kissing White House aide Natalie Harp on a golf course were generated using artificial intelligence, according to an analysis.

The Washington Post reported that the images accumulated millions of views after appearing online this week. Its analysis, using AI-detection tools from OpenAI and Google, found signs that they were artificially generated.

Visual anomalies included distorted hands, with one version appearing to give the woman six fingers.

The White House also rejected the images as fake and accused political opponents of circulating them. The Post said the pictures’ original creator remains unclear.

Dartmouth College digital-forensics expert Hany Farid warned that such convincing fabrications can gradually undermine public confidence in authentic photographs and videos.

Update:

Well, this is a first for me.

I opened The Washington Post today and discovered that I’m part of the story. The Post published an investigation into the viral AI-generated images of Donald Trump allegedly kissing Natalie Harp — including the image I posted on X that went on to receive more than 10 MILLION views. I told The Washington Post exactly what happened: I did not create the original image. I found a blurry, low-quality version already circulating on X and used ChatGPT to brighten and enhance it. I posted it as a joke and certainly never expected 10+ million views — or to end up in The Washington Post.

The journalists were unable to determine who originally created the image or even conclusively establish whether the clear or blurry version appeared first. So apparently my little X post has now become part of a Washington Post investigation into AI, viral misinformation and the increasingly blurry line between what is real and what is generated. Not exactly the kind of publicity I was expecting — but I’ll take it.

Thanks to Washington Post reporter Scott Nover and co-author Miriam Waldvogel for actually contacting me and including my explanation in the story. The Washington Post article: [Images of Trump kissing Natalie Harp went viral. They’re AI-generated fakes.](http://washingtonpost.com/business/2026/… Nover on X: [

@ScottNover](http://x.com/ScottNover?utm… Nover’s Washington Post profile: [Scott Nover — The Washington Post](http://washingtonpost.com/people/scott-n…… 10 million views and now The Washington Post. Apparently that joke traveled a little farther than I expected.