AI-generated images and videos of world leaders have turned the latest Ukraine peace push into meme fodder, from a fabricated clip of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin dancing with a polar bear to a fake photo of European leaders waiting glumly outside the Oval Office.
The online fabrications — dubbed “AI slop” — show how easily artificial intelligence tools can flood social media with false or satirical content around high-stakes global events. They also underscore the difficulty of policing such material as platforms increasingly reward creators for viral posts.
One image, widely shared in multiple languages including Greek, German and French, appeared to show French President Emmanuel Macron and other European officials sitting with their heads bowed in a White House corridor. A conservative U.S. commentator with a history of spreading misinformation about Ukraine called it “utter humiliation.”
AFP fact-checkers flagged the image as AI-generated, pointing to visual inconsistencies and mismatched figures compared with official photos from Monday’s meetings, when Macron and other European leaders joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks with Trump.
Pro-Kremlin sources mocked the officials as the “Coalition of the Waiting,” a spin on the “Coalition of the Willing,” the group of European allies who met with Trump at the White House to back Ukraine. The image was further amplified by outlets linked to the Pravda network, a Moscow-based operation known to circulate pro-Russian narratives, according to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
Other viral AI posts included a video of Trump and Putin sliding down snowy hills, eating a carrot beside a snowman and dancing with a polar bear. Another depicted the two leaders in a red-carpet fistfight near an airplane staircase, as bodyguards looked on.
The tongue-in-cheek fabrications illustrate how AI memes are increasingly competing with — and often drowning out — authentic content online. As tech platforms scale back moderation, the false videos are spreading rapidly, muddying public perception of serious diplomatic efforts to end the war.
On Tuesday, Trump ruled out sending U.S. troops to back up any Ukraine peace deal but suggested providing air support, as European leaders began debating security guarantees ahead of a potential meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
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