Washington DC - President Donald Trump is facing accusations of using artificial intelligence to edit an unflattering image of himself with China's Xi Jinping.

On Thursday, Trump shared a Truth Social post with a photo of himself and Xi standing on a red carpet rolled out for the leader's arrival, giving a salute as a military jet soars overhead.

Social media users were quick to note that the photo was evidently edited, as videos of the same moment show Trump wincing as the jet roars above them.

Apart from the missing grimace, the image Trump posted depicts him wearing a plain blue tie and a single black glove, whereas news agency photos and videos show him in a striped tie with both hands covered.

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A woman in the background over Trump's left shoulder is also portrayed with different shoes than can be seen in authentic visuals of the moment.

Trump is known to regularly share AI-generated content and memes on his Truth Social, even once sparking outrage for sharing an edited photo that depicted him as Jesus Christ.

Matthew Stamm, a media forensics expert at Drexel University, told AFP his analysis of the image using specialized AI-detection software "identified traces left by generative AI with high confidence."

While Americans have been raising concerns about AI's potentially catastrophic effects on humanity, Trump has brushed these fears off, arguing that the tech must be embraced by the US before China gets ahead in the race.