Is a photo showing President Donald Trump using a walker to assist him real? No, that's not true: The image has the SynthID watermark that indicates it was created by Google's Gemini AI tool, according to an analysis by Google's Gemini tool. The image may have been created for satirical reasons since it was posted soon after President Trump signed an executive order intended to limit states from regulating artificial intelligence tools.
The image appeared in a post (archived here) published by the @keithedwards account on X on December 11, 2025. The caption read:
BREAKING: an image has leaked showing Trump using a walker moments after he signed an executive order banning states from regulating AI
This is what the image looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
Google created the SynthID watermark as a "digital fingerprint" to help identify AI-generated content and to counter the use of "deepfakes" intended to spread disinformation. Fact checkers, such as Lead Stories, can use the SynthID Detector (archived here) to verify if content is created by Gemini.
When we asked Gemini to analyze the image of Trump using a walker, it confirmed it was created with Google AI:
Yes, this image contains the SynthID watermark. The identification tool detected that most or all of the content was edited or generated with Google AI.
As noted in the previous analysis, this aligns with the visual evidence and fact-checks confirming that the image of Donald Trump using a walker is a digital fabrication and not a real photograph.
Gemini also shared its "thinking" process.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of gemini.google.com)
