An AI image of Sen. Rand Paul in a bathrobe is circulating online after Senate drops dress code
FILE - In this July 17, 2018 file photo, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks during a television interview on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023 reported on social media posts falsely claiming that an image shows Paul sitting on the Capitol steps in a red bathrobe after the Senate eased its dress code. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
CLAIM: A photo shows U.S. Sen. Rand Paul sitting on the Capitol steps in a red bathrobe.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. A podcaster and political commentator confirms he created the image using artificial intelligence-generated software.
THE FACTS: Social media users are suggesting one of the Senate’s most outspoken conservative voices has taken the chamber up on its newly relaxed dress code.
They are sharing an image purporting to show Paul barefoot and wearing a flowing, bright red robe as he sits on the steps of what appears to be the U.S. Capitol building.
“BREAKING: Sen. Rand Paul shows up to work at the Capitol barefoot in a red bathrobe after Senate dress code change,” wrote the user who originally posted the image on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “He’s not even a Democrat. It’s like he just rolled out of bed and didn’t bother putting on clothes. This is INSANE.”
Among those sharing the image as if it was authentic was Antonio Sabato, Jr. The conservative actor, whose post has been liked or shared more than 160,000 times as of Tuesday, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
“#Senator #RandPaul showed up to work today barefoot and wearing his red bathrobe,” wrote another X user who shared the image along with a series of laughing emojis. “Democrats in the Senate changed their dress code to accommodate #JohnFetterman, so now everyone can bum it to work.”
But the image isn’t real, its creator confirms.
Jeff Charles, who originally posted the image on X on Sept. 22, said he produced the visual on a generative artificial intelligence program, which can create convincingly real-looking images simply off keyword prompts.
“The images are satirical in nature. I created them using AI,” the Texas-based political commentator and podcast host wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Charles declined to say which image-generating program he used as well as when he made it, but his profile on X includes the disclaimer “BREAKING = satire.”
Charles also published a post on his political satire Substack newsletter featuring a fabricated picture of Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, wearing what he described as a “pair of pink booty shorts” to go with a matching pink polo shirt.
Spokespersons for Paul didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday, but the Kentucky Republican appears to have acknowledged the joke on social media.
“I thought I was clear when I said no photographs,” he wrote in a post on X over the weekend in which he shared a post that included Charles’ fake image.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced last week that staff for the chamber’s Sergeant-at-Arms — the Senate’s official clothes police — will no longer enforce a dress code on the Senate floor.
The change came after Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, began wearing shorts while working in the building. Fetterman had been voting from doorways so he wouldn’t get into trouble for the casual attire.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.