The prevalence of AI digital manipulation tools makes it all that more important to pause and double-check sources before believing or sharing digital photos and videos, as they can appear quite convincing at first glance. Taking a second to investigate this viral video by clicking on the account’s profile, for example, reveals this account notes in its bio that its content is created with an AI-voice generator.

Of course, not all accounts that post AI-generated content label themselves as such, and AI-generated content originally shared with a disclaimer is frequently “stolen” and reposted by other accounts that don’t bother noting it. But an advanced web search using Boolean operators (in this case, perhaps, “Biden” AND “Trump” AND “denigrate”) should turn up credible news reports about the alleged event, if it were real. (After all, if Biden openly insulted Trump supporters in this way it would almost certainly have prompted widespread news coverage and commentary.) Using the video as the basis for a reverse image search is also a good way to uncover the original video. In this case, the clip can be traced back to video of a speech Biden gave to the U.N. General Assembly in September 2022. Neither news reports nor the official White House transcript of Biden’s remarks show him calling Trump an idiot.