Trump's AI-generated video fuels Medbed conspiracy theory - but what are Medbeds?

US President Trump recently drew renewed attention to the bizarre "medbed" conspiracy theory. This comes after his Truth Social account posted, and then deleted, a video that used artificial intelligence (AI) to promote the supposed technology that comes straight out of a sci-fi movie.

The incident further linked Trump to AI health misinformation and effectively boosted the strange conspiracy theory.

What are 'Medbeds'?

The "medbed" conspiracy theory is the belief that the US government is currently hiding advanced healing technology. This technology, they claim, can be used to treat a wide variety of illnesses or diseases. This alleged advanced healing system is especially popular among people suffering from chronic pain, as the medbeds do, after all, claim to heal anything.  

What was the viral AI video?

The video in question was posted on Trump’s Truth Social account on a Saturday evening. It was believed to be an AI-generated video that falsely showed the president on a Fox News show.

In the footage, the president appeared to promise "medbed cards" for Americans. These cards, the video suggested, would grant citizens access to hospitals "designed to restore every citizen to full health and strength".

The video appeared to have included an AI-generated representation of Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a Fox host, conducting an interview that multiple outlets never actually aired.

The video was eventually taken down hours after its initial posting.

At this stage, it remains unclear why the president’s account posted the video.

Background and QAnon origins

The medbed theory is a relatively recent phenomenon, but it grew among splinter groups from the wider QAnon theory.

If you are not chronically online, QAnon is described in the sources as a wild, thoroughly debunked conspiracy. Its central tenets posit that the government is controlled by a “deep state” involved in child trafficking. The sources note that Trump has deliberately appealed to the QAnon base throughout his political campaigns. In the years since QAnon's initial rise, several splinter groups have fixated on the existence of medbeds.

Some factions have embraced even more extreme beliefs surrounding the technology. One group, sometimes described as a cult, was led by the QAnon influencer Michael “Negative 48” Protzman. Protzman's group believed that the technology was actively being used to keep former President John F. Kennedy alive. Protzman died in 2023.

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