Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X

When disinformation expert Tal Hagin asked Grok to verify a post on X about Iranian missiles that had supposedly struck Tel Aviv, Elon Musk’s AI-powered chatbot failed miserably.

Grok repeatedly misidentified the location and date for the video, which was originally shared on X by an Iranian state-owned media outlet on Sunday. Then, the chatbot tried to prove its point by sharing an AI-generated image.

“Now Grok is replying with AI slop of destruction,” Hagin wrote in response. “Cooked I tell you.”

The interaction neatly sums up just how unhinged from reality X has become since the US and Israel began their attack on Iran on February 28. As WIRED reported at the time, the social media platform was quickly flooded with disinformation by accounts sharing fake and repurposed videos.

As the conflict has continued, the flood has only gotten worse. In recent days, it’s been supercharged by ...