(AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Tuesday blamed AI for a viral video that appeared to show a black bag being thrown out of a White House window. Trump’s claim came despite US media earlier quoting a White House official as saying that a contractor had been disposing of trash during renovations.
“No, that’s probably AI-generated,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when a reporter asked about the video. “Actually, you can’t open the windows. You know why, they’re all heavily armored and bulletproof.” Trump asked the journalist, Peter Doocy of Fox News, to show him the video.
The brief clip that went viral over the weekend appears to show a black plastic bag being thrown out an open window on the second floor of the White House, where the private presidential residence is located. After Doocy approached the lectern and showed him, the 79-year-old said it was a “little bit scary” how realistic artificial intelligence-generated videos could be.
But before Trump was asked about it, US media including the New York Times quoted the White House press office as saying that the video was real, although it showed nothing suspicious. Instead, it showed a contractor doing “regular maintenance” while Trump was absent.
The internet rumor was not the only one that Trump was forced to debunk on Tuesday — he also dismissed as “fake news” a series of social media-driven rumors about his health, including that he might even be dead.
© 2024 AFP
