Ex-GOP rep side-eyed after image of 'buff' version of him goes viral

On Tuesday, an image depicting a buff version of former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) — who is running for the U.S. Senate — was widely circulated on social media. But according to Detroit News reporters Chad Livengood and Melissa Nann Burke, the image was created by artificial intelligence (AI) and wasn't really an original photo of the GOP congressman.

However, the image, Livengood and Burke report, was an alteration of an actual photo of Rogers taken by Detroit News photographer David Guralnick at a Fourth of July parade in 2024. Rogers is seeing wearing dark jeans and a dress shirt in both the original photo and the AI-generated image, but in the latter, he is depicted as having very muscular, pumped-up arms — like someone who spends a lot of time pumping iron in a gym.

According to Livengood and Burke, the AI image sparked a "few snickers" and "a few cheers" when it "went viral Tuesday across social media."

The Detroit News reporters explain, "Abby Ronson, a former GOP congressional aide who works for a Rogers campaign vendor, shared the image of Rogers with defined biceps and pecs bulging from his shirt, which contained a disclaimer tag that it was 'Made with AI'…. The doctored image was widely shared and, at times, mocked on social media, spurring the creation of other AI-generated images depicting Rogers as the Hulk, as obese and as a curvy woman."

In a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, Ronson wrote, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Michigan's next Senator, @MikeRogersForMI !!! LET'S GET TO WORK."

Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, posted two images of Rogers —the actual July 4, 2024 photo and the AI-altered image — side by side on X and humorously posted, "This is gender affirming care."

Rogers, now 62, entered the U.S. House of Representatives via Michigan's 8th Congressional District in January 2001 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2011-2015 (when Democrat Barack Obama was president but Republicans, following the 2010 midterms, had a sizable majority in the House). Before entering the federal government, the midwestern Republican served in the Michigan State Senate.

Rogers also has a background in federal law enforcement, working as a special agent in the FBI's Chicago office in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The congressman interviewed for FBI director after President Donald Trump fired James Comey in 2017 but did not get the position, which eventually went to Christopher Wray.