PolicyAIOpenAITrump posts AI-edited photo to brag about White House restoration workA ‘before and after’ photo of a freshly painted White House column was modified with AI.A ‘before and after’ photo of a freshly painted White House column was modified with AI.by Emma RothOct 15, 2026, 9:09 PM UTCShareGiftImage: President Donald Trump / Truth SocialEmma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.President Donald Trump posted a series of photos on Truth Social showing off renovations to the White House — but one of them appears to be modified with AI. The picture, which compares an old White House column to a “restored” one, has several discrepancies and was flagged by Google’s AI detector as “made or edited with OpenAI.”As pointed out by users on Reddit, the picture of the “restored” column has an uneven number of steps on both sides of the structure. The number of steps also doesn’t match up with the ones in the “before” photo.
Additionally, the before and after photos appear nearly identical in angle and detail; the reflection in the windows is nearly the same, and the protective cardboard at the bottom of the column seems to be in the same spot as well. Not to mention that the “newly-painted” one looks unnaturally smooth.Google’s SynthID detector flagged it as made or edited with OpenAI’s tools. Screenshot: Emma Roth / The VergeThe Verge can confirm that the photo posted to Truth Social is flagged as AI-generated when uploaded to Google’s SynthID Detector, which scans images, videos, and audio for an invisible watermark that indicates it was “created or edited” with AI.Real pictures show people painting the front of the White House in June, so it’s possible the column actually did get a fresh coat of paint — the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The SynthID watermark wasn’t detected on other pictures Trump posted, which show the White House facade and heliport.
Trump is no stranger to AI tools, though, as he often posts AI-generated caricatures of himself, while the White House has been known to post racist AI memes and at least one photo deceptively edited to make a protester appear distraught.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Emma RothAIOpenAIPolicyPoliticsMost PopularAs a TV enthusiast, I was hoping for more from the Apple TV 4KThe Tesla Roadster could have stayed vaporwareThe best feature of Apple’s HomeView might be its simplicityTrump calls off livestream of executionMicrosoft says Windows 11 is now ‘more responsive’ and runs better on 8GB of RAMAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
