AI-generated Iran war videos surge as creators use new tech to cash in
The US-Israel war with Iran is being monetised by online creators with AI-generated misinformation.
Coverage by Political Leaning
See how different sides of the spectrum reported this story
Notable Quotes
"The scale is truly alarming and this war has made it impossible to ignore now."
— Timothy Graham , Academic
"Fake videos like these have a detrimental impact on people's trust in the verified information they see online and make it much harder to document real evidence."
— Mahsa Alimardani , Academic
"The scale is truly alarming and this war has made it impossible to ignore now."
— Timothy Graham , Academic
"Fake videos like these have a detrimental impact on people's trust in the verified information they see online and make it much harder to document real evidence."
— Mahsa Alimardani , Academic
"During times of war, it is critical that people have access to authentic information on the ground."
— Nikita Bier , Executive
"In the last few days we’ve seen lots of examples of AI images shared across different social media platforms as if they are real."
— Steve Nowottny , Academic
"Unfortunately chatbots are not very good at assessing real-time events."
— Sam Stockwell , Academic
"During times of war, it is critical that people have access to authentic information."
— Nikita Bier , Executive
"With today’s AI technologies, it is trivial to create content that can mislead people."
— Nikita Bier , Executive
"We need to preserve the reliability of content on Timeline during war."
— Nikita Bier , Executive
"The content that's coming from state actors tends to be a little better targeted."
— Melanie Smith , Academic
"In Ukraine, that message was so full-throated it really changed the entire dynamic of the conflict."
— Todd Helmus , Academic
Key People
Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla.
A researcher specialising in Iran at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Senior director of policy and research on information operations at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
Nikita Bier is the head of product at X.
Sam Stockwell researches AI in online information at the UK’s Centre for Emerging Technology and Security.
Steve Nowottny is the editor of Full Fact, a UK fact-checking organization.
A digital media expert at the Queensland University of Technology.
Senior behavioral scientist at RAND who studies irregular warfare, terrorism, and information operations.
Tags
All Coverage
The US-Israel war with Iran is being monetised by online creators with AI-generated misinformation.
An unprecedented wave of AI-generated misinformation about the US-Israel war with Iran is being monetized by online creators with growing access to generative AI technology, experts have told BBC Verify.
X said: ‘During times of war, it is critical that people have access to authentic information.’
Elon Musk's platform X will suspend users who share AI-generated armed conflict videos as real, initially blocking access to its creator revenue-sharing programme for 90 days.
An unprecedented wave of AI-generated misinformation about the US-Israel war with Iran is being monetized by online creators with growing access to generative AI technology, experts have told BBC Verify.
The US-Israel war with Iran is being monetized by online creators with AI-generated misinformation.
The platform will suspend revenue sharing for 90 days if creators post synthetic conflict footage without disclosure, as AI-generated war videos flood timelines during US-Israel-Iran tensions.
Online creators are leveraging advanced AI technologies to produce and monetize misleading videos about the US-Israel conflict with Iran, raising concerns about the spread of misinformation.
X disabled 31 accounts spreading AI-generated war videos during the crisis, with the network traced to a Pakistan-based operator using hacked accounts to amplify misleading content.
State actors, particularly Iranian government-linked accounts, are using AI-generated content to exaggerate military successes in the Iran war, with fabricated videos circulating online.
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