The Real Iranian Women Protesters Trump Made Look Synthetic

Real Iranian women protesters are being held in Iranian prisons under threat of capital punishment. Their cases are now harder to defend than they were a week ago because the credibility of the documentation that human rights work depends on is being eroded by people who claim to be defending them. AI tools are being used to enhance real photographs until they look manufactured, and entirely AI-generated images are being presented as if they were of real people, often side by side as if they are the same thing. The distinction between the two is being lost, and the real women in real prisons disappear into the noise.

The eight women whose photographs President Donald Trump amplified on Truth Social this week are the latest example.