The statement that “the first casualty of war is truth” has probably never been as valid as it is right now, as anyone scrolling through social media with a modicum of discernment has noticed.
Israel’s and the U.S.’s war on Iran is the first major conflict where, from the set-out, the AI-generating of images and video has been widely available to the average internet user.
Along with the carefully curated news coming out of the warring countries—which is ‘normal’ in a war situation—this time, realistic-looking AI-generated videos showing attacks and destruction that never happened have flooded social media, making it even more difficult to know what is really going on.
A roundup by The New York Times has identified over 110 unique AI-generated photos and videos from the first two weeks of the war, gathered from platforms like X, TikTok, and Facebook. Among them are imagery of war ships being bombed and sunk, cities across the Middle East being targeted, nuclear mushroom clouds, Israelis cowering on Tel Aviv streets as bombs fall, and landmarks like the Al-Aqsa Mosque and downtown Dubai’s Burj Khalifa on fire—all fake.
While some of the images and videos shown in The New York Times article are easily identifiable as AI-generated, often for memes or jokes—such as one with the deceased Ayatollah Khamenei pulling a wagon with Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump dressed in royal garb, or one with three Muslim men shooting missiles from the back of a donkey—others are quite realistic.
The NYT checked the imagery both by looking for obvious signs and hidden watermarks, and also used AI-detecting software and comparisons with news reports.
Experts cited by The New York Times said the war in the Middle East has accelerated the spread of manipulated content, with millions of online views of the fake news.
So the old Marx Brother’s quote, “Who you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?” should these days be amended with, “Don’t believe everything you see with your own eyes—at least online.”
