A suspected AI-generated image claiming to show an explosion near the Pentagon went viral on Twitter on Monday, sending markets reeling.
Dozens of verified accounts — including national news organizations — showed black smoke billowing from the ground next to a white building that re-shared.
The photo looked so realistic that people went crazy as it aired on the platform at 10 am ET, causing the S&P 500 to drop 10 points in five minutes as the photo went viral.
The Arlington Fire Department quickly debunked the event, stating that ‘no explosions or incidents occurred on or near the Pentagon Reservation.’
It comes as fears about the power of artificial intelligence to spread misinformation, especially in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
Dozens of verified accounts, such as WorMonitors, BloombergFeed and RT, shared the image showing black smoke rising from the ground next to a white building.
A deputy Pentagon official told Newstimesuk.com: ‘We have no comment beyond confirming it is false.’
The Kobeisi Letter, a source that reports on global capital markets, tweeted the photo an hour after it went viral.
‘Multiple news sources reported it as real, with the S&P 500 down 30 points in minutes. This resulted in a $500 billion market cap swing on a bogus figure,’ tweeted the Kobeisi letter.
Some Twitter users blamed advanced AI technology for the fake photo, while others pointed to accounts that quickly retweeted the photo without investigating its authenticity.
Nick Waters, ex-army and Bellingcat journalist, tweeted how to tell the photo is fake.
“Confident that this image claiming to show ‘explosion near the Pentagon’ was AI-generated,” Waters posted.
‘See how the front of the building and the fence blend into the crowd barriers. Also no other pictures, videos or people posting as direct witnesses.
‘Whenever something like this happens, it affects a large number of people. Even aside from the fact that this image is clearly AI-generated, it is immediately possible to identify it as a fake by conducting searches on geolocation and social media.’
Twitter user Walter Bloomberg, who has more than 653,000 followers, was one of the first to share a tweet about the photo.
However, he only tweeted: ‘Large explosion near Pentagon complex in Washington DC – preliminary reports.’
Nick Waters, ex-army and Bellingcat journalist, tweeted how to tell the photo is fake. He pointed out how the front fence blended into the crowd’s barriers — a certain sign software designed the photo, causing the market to briefly decline.
However, Russian-owned RTO pushed the image on its Twitter account, captioning it as an explosion.
The publication has since deleted the tweet.
The AI-generated disaster comes as people call for more regulation on the technology and fear it will destroy humanity and spread misinformation.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke before Congress last week, answering five hours of questions about how to regulate technology that could potentially achieve self-determination.
And in March, Elon Musk and more than 1,000 other tech leaders signed an open letter calling for AI development to be halted for at least six months so an analysis can be conducted.
Twitter user Walter Bloomberg, who has more than 653,000 followers, was one of the first to share a tweet about the photo.
Russian-owned RTO pushed the image on its Twitter account, captioning it as an explosion. The publication has since deleted the tweet
This will be possible if AI reaches the Singularity, a hypothetical future where technology surpasses human intelligence and changes the course of our evolution – and this is predicted to happen by 2045. AI must first pass the Turing test
When this happens, the technology is considered to have independent intelligence, allowing it to self-replicate into more powerful systems that humans cannot control.
Kevin Baragona is one of more than 1,000 leading experts who signed an open letter to The Future of Life Institute, calling for a pause in the ‘dangerous race’ to develop AI like ChatGPT.
Like the invention of the atomic bomb in the 1940s, Baragona told Newstimesuk.com that ‘AI is like a nuclear weapon of superintelligence software.’
‘Many people have debated whether or not we should develop them,’ he continued.
The Americans were wrestling with a similar concept, while developing weapons of mass destruction – at the time it was called ‘nuclear anxiety’.
‘It’s almost like a war between chimps and humans,’ Baragona, who signed the letter, told Newstimesuk.com
‘Humans obviously won as we are much smarter and can use more advanced technology to defeat them.
‘If we’re like chimps, AI will destroy us, or we’ll be its slaves.’
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