A recent incident highlighted the complexities of information warfare through social media. After Israel's airstrikes on Iran, an AI-generated video went viral, leading users to query its authenticity with X's AI bot Grok. Grok's inconsistent responses raised concerns about how AI shapes perceptions of warfare. Emerson Brooking from the Digital Forensic Research Lab noted that AI could mislead the public regarding conflicts. As AI-generated content becomes more realistic, it complicates the understanding of real vs. fake information in warfare contexts, marking a new phase in how armed conflicts are perceived online.
In the first days after Israel's surprise airstrikes on Iran, a video began circulating on X. A newscast, narrated in Azeri, shows drone footage of a bombed-out airport.
But Grok's responses varied wildly, sometimes minute to minute. "The video likely shows real damage," said one response; "likely not authentic," said another.
What we're seeing is AI mediating the experience of warfare," said Emerson Brooking, director of strategy at the DFRLab. "This is another milestone in how publics will process and understand armed conflicts and warfare.
Brooking has watched this escalate since Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Initially, a lot of the AI-generated material was in some early Israeli public diplomacy.
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