Is there clear proof of AI in Trump's video statement? | Hacker News Reader

Is there clear proof of AI in Trump's video statement?

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10 pointsSchmerika12 comments

Anyone who works with video editing knows that when you cut a segment from a video recording, if the frame jump would distract the viewer or disrupt the content's flow, you apply morphing between those two frames. For this video too, everyone saying "the finger did this, the background did that" is actually spotting these morphings and mistaking them for AI anomalies.

18/19 seconds in, look at Trump's pinky finger disappear and become his ring finger.

The whole video has an AI vibe, but that moment seems like clear evidence. I've never seen a codec introduce that kind of artifact, but it's standard for AI. The background outside the window seems to jump at the same time as well.

My best guess is that this was done due to Trump being physically unable to manage a video... But if anyone has a better idea I'm open to hearing it.

It might also be cool if we can discuss whether or not this is something we're willing to tolerate from leaders. To me, it sounds like a monumentally bad idea straight out of low-budget sci fi.

He moves his hands and afterwards you can clearly see four fingers. Not sure what you are seeing.

In any event, the reflection on the desk seems completely accurate and the kind of thing AI would get wrong.

There are a couple of frames where the pinky disappears, the ring finger becomes the new pinky, middle becomes ring, pointer becomes middle, and a new pointer appears from behind the middle finger as he puts his hand down.

During that time, the reflection that was the tip of the pinky becomes the reflection from his shirt, and the tie reflection that becomes visible first appears bent to the viewer's left, and shifts rightwards to match with the now-visible tie and shirt in the next frame.

It all happens within 5 frames. Pause the video, and period and comma can be used to advance and reverse frame-by-frame.

Setting the playback speed to 0.25 and watching at the 18-20 second mark sure does look like AI artifacting, but I'm no expert. It's easiest to see in his pinky but the whole hand changes.

Even when politicians pretend to be speaking the truth, there is little veracity to their statements and little follow-up or follow-through. So having an AI or deepfake video do that for them seems like a natural next step.

If none of it is real, does it matter how it was made? Witness the massive announcements which are revoked, then reinstated, then revoked again. We are in another post-truth era in history. Myanmar used to cut newspaper articles out with scissors to censor them before delivering papers to foreigners. All propaganda is just that.

It does if they’re trying to hide physical/mental decline.

This is exactly what many said during the Biden years and it was discounted as fringe conspiracy theories.

And it turned out to be true? They were wrong? I'm just saying if you were using AI in an attempt to distract from the fact that the president was not available, that would be a different thing from using AI to maximize the presidents message. So I'm not sure what your point is.

Discounted by who? His PR staff?

Everyone knows that Biden and Trump are held to different standards.

Not even being a pedophile or sex trafficker would harm Trumps support in any meaningful way.

Like if they, say, had a stroke?

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