'They missed this weird glitch': Internet calls 'AI' on Trump's Charlie Kirk video

President Donald Trump uploaded a speech to social media on Wednesday responding to the shooting death of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. Almost immediately, those online began questioning whether the video was generated by artificial intelligence.

One of the most popular voices on social media questioning the video focused on two notable observations. First, a blip appears over Trump's head where the trees are seen through the Oval Office window. Second, the tips of Trump's fingers appear to vanish, and his ring finger disappears entirely at one point.

Matt Binder, author of the "Disruptionist" newsletter and host of the "Scam Economy" podcast said, "This very much looks like an AI avatar of Trump delivering an official message for the president his body and hands barely move for the entire video also...they missed this weird glitch, what's going on here?"

Community notes have already been submitted to X regarding the video, claiming it was artificially generated, with a link to a Canadian government website that outlines key methods for identifying AI-generated content.

"AI doesn’t always create natural movements when making humans or other creatures move," is one of the notes on the guide. "Look out for people who don't blink."

Another on this list suggests "blurs or light flickers where there shouldn't be" is another way to spot a fake video.

An X account that tracks whether or not Trump has passed away also claimed the video was AI-generated. It has over 10,000 "likes" on the comment.

The most popular comment on the matter came from a Brooklyn-based writer named Cait, who generated nearly 950,000 views on the post and over 62,000 "likes."

"Sure, maybe they’re using AI to cover up Trump’s medical issues. But I think the funnier scenario is that he’s actually fine and just didn’t care enough to sit down and film the video," she wrote.

Trial attorney Robbie Leonard posted the video of Trump from the Pentagon on Thursday, remarking, "This is why the @WhiteHouse put out the AI video of @realDonaldTrump yesterday. Looks like he had a stroke."

Award-winning documentary photographer Jamie Bellinger wrote on his Substack, "Comments beneath this video shared by The Hill and other political outlets had a strong theme: people didn’t buy it. This is AI, was the common reaction."

Rather than looking at the X video, he turned to the 4K version of it that has been posted to the White House YouTube page.

Those same blips that appear on the X video don't appear in the 2160p version. However, Bellinger said that the moment still doesn't look quite right.

"Then, at 0:19, on the word patriot, something weird. The hands lift and rapidly fall again, slightly too fast. His head and torso both ‘glitch’ noticeably to the left by a few centimetres, and the audio synchronization is momentarily lost. This moment drew the most attention on X and other platforms, with some users cropping the video to focus on Trump’s hands as a sign of a ‘deepfake.’"

The issue, he said, is not AI, it's "a bad cut." Trump may have messed up in the filming or decided to change the script as he's want to do and there was an edit.

Bellinger said he sees why it's being questioned. "But as the video plays, something feels off to me. The first red flag — other than that of the Marine Corps behind him — is the consistency of Trump’s body language. He sits with hands clasped on his desk, a trend in all videos lately as he appears to be covering bruising. But his head stays unusually still and his facial expression unusually neutral — something we’d expect a year or two ago, but not today, when Trump generally speaks with a tilted posture and a near-constant grimace."

He closed by saying that it's perfectly "conceivable" that the video was AI-generated, but he still believes that it's authentic.