Yet another shows Jesus and Kirk, holding a Make America Great Again hat, walking toward the camera among the clouds.
”Welcome, my son,” Jesus says, embracing the AI Kirk. “Your work is done. Come rest.”
Apparent AI-generated images have even been used by Kirk’s former co-workers. Andrew Kolvet, who produced “The Charlie Kirk Show” and has hosted the program multiple times since Kirk’s killing, posted what appears to be an AI-generated image of Kirk alongside other assassinated Americans from U.S. history such as King and Lincoln, as well as Jesus Christ. (The image sparked criticism, with detractors noting that the real-life Kirk criticized King. The Rev. Bernice King, one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughters, said of the image, “there are so many things wrong with this.”)
Depictions of famous figures in heaven, or even in relationship with Jesus, are hardly unusual. But the particular utilization of AI to commemorate Kirk — with content flooding the internet within hours of his death — may be an outgrowth of the technology’s wide use among devotees of President Donald Trump. That includes the Trump administration itself: On several occasions, AI-generated images and memes have appeared on official government accounts.
As Charlie Warzel, who writes on technology and media, observed in The Atlantic in August, the “high-resolution, low-budget look of generative-AI images appears to be fusing with the meme-loving aesthetic of the MAGA movement.”
Warzel added: “At least in the fever swamps of social media, AI art is becoming MAGA-coded. The GOP is becoming the party of AI slop.”
Kirk, of course, was an avid Trump supporter who played a significant role in helping the president return to power, and some of the AI-generated content that proliferated after the activist’s death has been tied to conservative causes. Many images, for instance, linked Kirk’s death to the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee whose slaying on a bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, became a source of outrage for Kirk and other conservatives shortly before Kirk’s own assassination. One widely shared image shows an AI-generated Kirk comforting Zarutska as she sits on the bus where she was killed, bleeding. At least one person created a video version of the image that features the hymn “How Great Thou Art.” A similar AI-generated video shows Kirk embracing Zarutska on the bus as they both flap newly grown angel wings.
Another AI-generated video pushed a pro-Israel message — a topic that has sparked division among conservatives, and which Kirk was reportedly trying to mitigate shortly before his death. In the video, an AI-generated Kirk, adorned with angel wings and a white robe, speaks from heaven as he declares: “I’m in a better place now, but America and Israel will never be the same.” The AI Kirk insists that the U.S. and Israel are both based on “faith, on freedom, on family,” shortly before a bald eagle is shown landing on his head as he stands in front of Israeli and U.S. flags.
Despite their viral nature, it’s unclear precisely what role these virtually enhanced remembrances play in the lives of those who mourn Kirk’s death. But social media boosters of the creations often frame them as a form of catharsis: On TikTok, influencer Taylor Diazmercado posted a short video of herself last week reacting to the AI-generated audio clip of Kirk — which she clearly labeled as such — that would later be used in churches. As an entirely fabricated voice speaks lines Kirk never said in life, Diazmercado can be seen visibly weeping, frequently wiping away tears as she nods along in-between sobs.
Beneath the video, which had 123,000 likes as of Wednesday (Sept. 17), she added a short caption: “What a man.”
This article originally appeared here.
