As misinformation surges during the Israel-Hamas war, where is AI?
Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system fires interceptors at rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Thursday, May 11, 2023, months before the most recent war between Israel and Hamas. Many online images purporting to be from the war are actually older images like this one that misinformers are using out of context. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Poynter
A recent crowdsourced fact check — from X’s Community Notes — claimed a graphic image from the Israel-Hamas war was generated with artificial intelligence.
It wasn’t.
The note disappeared from the tweet. But it was a grim illustration that as the conflict in Gaza plays out on social media, generative AI has not been a major factor in the flood of misinformation.
The dominating threat has instead been real footage used out of context. The vast majority of images and videos fact-checkers have debunked during the war have included footage from other countries like Syria or Turkey, and the past, like this video that was actually from a previous conflict in Gaza.
“There’s just a lot of stuff out there to misrepresent when it comes to wars, whether it’s footage of this conflict, of previous conflicts, or for that matter video game conflicts,” said Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. “Wars are densely documented things, which means if you are looking for media to misrepresent there’s plenty of choices.” MORE