Photo of Trump Kissing Aide at Golf Course Spreads Online: “Six Fingers Raise Possibility of AI Manipulation”

[Financial News] A photo of U.S. President Donald Trump kissing aide Natalie Harp at a golf course has been spreading online, and U.S. current-affairs magazine Newsweek reported that the image was fake.
According to Newsweek on the 15th (local time), two photos showing President Trump embracing and kissing aide Harp at a golf course spread across multiple social media platforms, including X, formerly known as Twitter. The two images appear to be different versions of the same scene, with one relatively clear and the other blurry.
One notable detail is that the high-resolution version contains visual errors commonly seen in AI-generated images. The most prominent example involves Harp’s fingers: the hand holding the golf club appears to have six fingers. In addition, some of the golf equipment and background have inconsistent shapes and details, raising the possibility that the photo is a fake generated by AI.
Newsweek reported that, after asking the AI chatbot Grok, developed by xAI, about the two photos, it determined that they matched characteristics commonly found in images generated by AI and subsequently blurred or compressed. ChatGPT likewise judged that the visual anomalies in the photos were consistent with features seen in AI-generated images or substantial digital manipulation.
The White House also called it an “obvious fake photo,” claiming, “It came from the Democratic Party of Korea, which is spreading fake photos instead because it has no substantive content worth promoting.”
Meanwhile, aide Harp is one of President Trump’s closest aides, so close that she has been nicknamed “Trump’s security blanket.” In July, she was also one of the very few close associates who accompanied Trump when he secretly switched to a military aircraft in Türkiye.
[email protected] Hee-sun Kim Reporter