By Uche Anunne
An unprecedented wave of AI-generated misinformation about the U.S.-Israel war with Iran is being monetised by online creators with growing access to generative AI technology, according to a BBC report.
Analysis found numerous examples of AI-generated videos and fabricated satellite imagery being used to make false and misleading claims about the conflict, which collectively amassed hundreds of millions of views online.
Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, said “the scale is truly alarming and this war has made it impossible to ignore now.
“What used to require professional video production can now be done in minutes with AI tools. The barrier to creating convincing synthetic conflict footage has essentially collapsed.”
The U.S. and Israel started strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 and Iran retaliated by deploying drone and missile attacks on Israel, as well as multiple Gulf nations and U.S. military assets in the region.
Consequently, many people have turned to social media to search for and share latest information and to help make sense of a fast-moving week of conflicts.
The platform X announced this week that it will temporarily suspend creators from its monetisation programme if they post AI-generated videos of armed conflict without a label.
The scheme rewards eligible users whose posts create large numbers of views, likes, shares and comments with payments from the platform.
Mahsa Alimardani, a Researcher who specialised in Iran at the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, England, said “it is a notable signal that they’ve noticed that this is a big problem.
“We asked TikTok and Meta, the company of Facebook and Instagram, if they intend to take similar action, but they did not respond to our requests for comment.
“A typical example of verified AI-generated video appears to show missiles striking the city of Tel Aviv in Israel as the sound of explosions rings out in the background.
“The video has been featured in no fewer than 300 posts, which have then been shared tens of thousands of times across social media platforms.
“Some X users turned to the platform’s AI chatbot — Grok, to confirm the video’s veracity, but in many cases seen by BBC Verify, Grok wrongly insisted that the AI-generated video was real.”
Alimardani cited another confirmed fake video viewed tens of millions of times which claims Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper in flames, while a crowd of people seem to be running towards the building.
“This AI-generated footage spread widely online at a time of considerable concern from residents and tourists about the drone and missile strikes on the city.
“Fake videos like these have detrimental impact on people’s trust in the verified information they see online and make it much harder to document real evidence.”
There is, therefore, the need to verify such videos before sharing, as they contain fake and malicious intent aimed at distorting the real information and the true state of the conflict.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu
