AI-Generated Images Falsely Link US Politicians to Epstein
AI-generated images falsely linking US politicians Zohran Mamdani and Nikki Haley to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein spread across social media, reportedly accumulating over 21 million views on X. A conspiracy theorist's post claiming an AI chatbot validated one image reached 1.5 million views, despite NewsGuard confirming the images were AI-generated fakes with invisible watermarks.
What happened
Conservative social media users circulated three AI-generated images purporting to show late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein posing with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with Mamdani depicted as a child. Two of the images also depicted Mira Nair, the mayor's mother and an award-winning filmmaker.
According to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard, seven such images collectively garnered more than 21 million views on X. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones featured one of the images in a post that racked up more than 1.5 million views, claiming that Musk's AI chatbot Grok had called it real.
A screenshot of a purported email from Nikki Haley to Epstein also circulated on social media, requesting flight arrangements for her and two babies. A search of the Justice Department's Epstein files did not yield any results for this email, and the screenshot contained fabrication indicators including an incorrect day of the week for the purported date.
Reported impact
NewsGuard cited Google's AI tool Gemini to detect SynthID watermarks confirming the images were AI-generated fakes, yet the images spread widely across social media platforms.
Index analysis
Neither Zohran Mamdani nor Nikki Haley are among the individuals documented in the Justice Department's released Epstein files.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.