How AI Images of Cats and Ducks Fueled Pet-Eating Rumors – NBC New York

The rumors about migrants attacking pets started as little-known anecdotes shared at government meetings and on social media. But they really took off when AI-generated images and videos that memeed the stories went viral.

Earlier this week, even before former President Donald Trump shocked debate viewers Tuesday night with his tale of immigrants “eating animals,” the topic gained traction as high-profile accounts, including tech billionaire Elon Musk’s, shared cartoonish images created using artificial intelligence.

Using a variety of AI-powered apps, including Musk’s Grok service and a Chinese-owned app, people created adorable and sometimes racist photos and videos in seconds to promote the idea that Trump will protect animals while Vice President Kamala Harris will not.

And once those photos and videos started being shared and re-shared, some of them racked up tens of millions of views and made their way onto Trump’s social media accounts.

Some of the images shared by social media users were openly partisan, depicting black people chasing cats. In one widely shared example, an AI-generated Trump is seen running through a field with a cat under each arm while two shirtless black men run after him.

This year, many AI experts worried that realistic deepfakes would pose a serious threat to public discourse because of their potential to create believable audio or video of presidential candidates, but for the most part, the election was shaped by demonstrably false, AI-generated hoaxes, quickly released to accompany various lines of attack, true or not. These images and videos often make for a more engaging and shareable post—regardless of whether they’re based on truth.

AJ Bauer, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama who studies conservative media, said the photos show how democratized meme creation has become.

“You don’t need to know Photoshop anymore,” he said, referring to Adobe’s popular photo-editing software.

“It certainly accelerated the memeification of this ‘cat and dog eater’ trope,” he added. “Whereas without AI it might have taken a little longer or might have spread a little less, I think AI allows it to spread much faster on a large scale.”

Bauer said the AI was particularly useful in this case because Trump is known to be an animal hater, so there are relatively few real photos of him with animals. Unlike all other recent presidents, he has not had a pet in the White House.

Claims of Haitian immigrants kidnapping and eating pets are unfounded, but they have real consequences, including in Springfield, Ohio, the epicenter of the rumors. Local schools and government offices have been targeted with bomb threats, and some Haitian immigrants said they fear for their safety.

But cat memes have a unique and enduring hold on the internet: from Grumpy Cat to “I Can Has Cheezburger?”

“Coding the demonization of immigrants into content about cute cats gets people who aren’t necessarily open to demonizing immigrants to buy in,” Bauer said. “Who doesn’t like a cute cat, right?”

The AI-generated pet memes were notable for their diversity, including cats holding military-style rifles to defend themselves, cats holding political signs, cats and ducks sitting next to each other, AI-generated humans holding cat-related signs, and cats and ducks being hugged by Trump.

And all this has created a veritable tsunami wave – since last weekend, countless videos and photos have started appearing on social media platforms such as Reddit, X, TikTok and Instagram.

Some of the videos and photos had captions explaining the meme: “Donald Trump rescues kittens from Springfield, Ohio,” read one post on X. Others were more subtle, with text like “Let’s save them!” Still others had no explanation at all.

Images generated by Harris’ AI-assisted pet-related content appear to be relatively rare, but social media users have shared some, such as one with harris holding the dog and a sign reading “Dogs for Harris.”

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit organization that combats hate, said memes show those who enjoy having fun at the expense of racial minorities.

“The reactions of racists are delightful. The reactions of most normal people are either bewilderment or outright anger and defiance, depending on how immersed they are in the arcane culture of the internet,” Ahmed said.

He added that memes are also a warning sign about the state of the media.

“We cannot afford to have our democracy reduced to false images that drive discourse,” he said.

Late last Sunday night, far-right activist Jack Posobiec posted an AI image of Trump running with a cat and a duck in his arms while being chased by a group of black men on X. That post had 1.3 million views as of Friday. He also posted a six-second video of Trump carrying a cat with a group of zombies behind him, which has 3.5 million views. Posobiec did not respond to a request for comment.

On Monday morning, several X accounts posted another AI image of Trump being chased by black men, this time holding two kittens. The image appeared on the @LibsofTikTok account on Tuesday in a post that garnered 4.8 million views. The image eventually made its way onto Jimmy Kimmel’s show after the presidential debate. The @LibsofTikTok account did not respond to a request for comment.

The House Judiciary Committee Republicans’ X account had perhaps the most widely viewed post Monday: a photo of Trump waist-deep in water, hugging a duck and a cat. It had more than 87 million views as of Friday. The Committee Republicans did not respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, printed the post on a large board and showed it at a committee hearing, where he asked Republicans, “God, are you OK?”

Trump himself posted several AI images on his channel on the social media app Truth Social on Tuesday and Thursday. They included a photo of Trump sitting in a private jet, surrounded by animals.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

“Anyone with access to generative AI can produce dozens of these images in the blink of an eye,” said Alice Marwick, research director at nonprofit research organization Data & Society.

Marwick compared the images and videos to a kind of instant comic, with bright colors, extreme detail and easy-to-digest messages. And for most people, AI-generated content is still new, which adds to its appeal.

“They have an incredibly broad reach and huge viral potential,” she said. But, she added, “to read that image, you have to have a sense that immigrants are dangerous.”

Marwick said the whole episode is, in some ways, a continuation of the strategy Trump and his allies used in 2016 to initially elevate him to the White House.

“Since 2016, there has been a kind of meme economy in politics,” she said.

ABC host David Muir corrected former President Donald Trump during Tuesday night’s presidential debate after Trump confirmed unsubstantiated reports that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Consumers now have a wide range of AI-powered image generators to choose from to create images with a simple text command. While many have policies to protect against election misinformation — such as banning the creation of images of Harris or Trump — some AI-powered image generators do not.

At least two of the most popular AI videos featuring Trump and animals were created using software from Chinese AI company MiniMax, according to watermarks on the videos.

One, posted on X on Sunday afternoon, was a video of Trump kissing and petting a duck on the head, with the caption: “I love you. I would never let Haitians eat you.” By Friday, the video had 2.4 million views.

MiniMax and X did not respond to requests for comment on the alleged use of their services to create such images.

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