Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president on Tuesday, citing AI-generated deepfake images posted by Donald Trump that appeared to represent her support for the former president.
The popular singer-songwriter, who had previously been silent about her stance on the candidates, announced her decision on Instagram after watching Tuesday night’s debate between Harris and Trump, saying that Trump’s deepfakes “conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation.
“It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” Swift said. “The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Swift’s endorsement of the Democratic nominee for president comes just weeks after Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he had accepted Swift’s support. He also posted some AI-generated deepfake images of Swift and her fans, known as Swifties, seemingly showing support for the Republican presidential nominee.
The images, which Trump topped with the text “I accept,” were originally posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, by a user who labeled them as satire. One of the images reposted on Trump’s Truth Social account had the word “satire” in the image text.
Conversely, Trump falsely accused the Harris’ campaign of using AI to deepfake a photo taken at a rally in August to show a greatly inflated crowd size. But numerous other videos and photos of the event showed a crowd similar in size to the one shown in the Harris campaign photo.
The advancement of artificial intelligence over the past several years has made it easier for people to generate convincing deepfakes — manipulated images or video showing people doing or saying they didn’t. Experts worry these deepfakes could affect how or even if people vote ahead of the November presidential election.
Swift went on to encourage voters to do their own research on the issues and to register to vote.
The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
