Cultists Spread Fake AI “Pentagon Explosion” Image

The Insider reports:

A fake image of an explosion near the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., may have been created by artificial-intelligence tools. But that didn’t stop it from being spread by dozens of accounts on social media — and the stock market briefly dipped as the fake news spread.

An image appearing to show a massive cloud of smoke near a building and claims that there had been an explosion near the Pentagon started circulating on Twitter early Monday. But the image and associated claims were fake, the Arlington Police Department said.

Read the full article. Cultists are continuing to spread the fake image at this writing. As so often these days, this is on Elon Musk.

A fake Bloomberg account with a Verified Blue Check on Twitter posted an apparently AI-generated picture of an explosion at the Pentagon this morning.

There was no explosion at the Pentagon, but the stock market still dipped.https://t.co/RCWKQwjgU1

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) May 22, 2023

Russian propaganda now running with this lie.https://t.co/QUWJ9qgUDg

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) May 22, 2023

Prime example of the dangers in the pay-to-verify system: This account, which tweeted a (very likely AI-generated) photo of a (fake) story about an explosion at the Pentagon, looks at first glance like a legit Bloomberg news feed. pic.twitter.com/SThErCln0p

— Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) May 22, 2023

I’m sure if there was a large explosion near the White House, “Altcoin Gordon” would be the first person to tell you about it.

This is an AI-generated fake, much like the one earlier about the Pentagon. pic.twitter.com/BKzNsHHLt8

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) May 22, 2023

So @republic aired a ‘Live & Breaking’ news of Pentagon explosion image. They even invited Prof. Madhav Nalapat “strategic expert” to discuss about the explosion.
BWT, It was an AI generated image. pic.twitter.com/8j1nfSJR6x

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 22, 2023

@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon. There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public. pic.twitter.com/uznY0s7deL

— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) May 22, 2023