The US-Israel war with Iran isn't just being fought with bombs - it's being fought with pixels. A flood of AI-generated videos and images depicting false scenes of the war have overrun social media, with latest report from NYT identifying over 110 unique AI-generated posts in just two weeks, viewed millions of times online. Now, the crisis has reached the White House. President Donald Trump accused Iran of using artificial intelligence as a 'disinformation weapon' to misrepresent its wartime successes - claiming fake videos depicted the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier burning at sea. With AI, the battlefield is everywhere. Including your phone.
AI war videos creating chaos
The AI content, enabled by sophisticated new tools, often shows exaggerated scenes of destruction and military might - pushing narratives that sharply contrast with more subdued footage from real on-the-ground sources. An example of AI fake war footage is below:
The BBC verified that AI was used to fabricate a deepfake image purporting to show a massive explosion at a US military base in Iraq. A deepfake image showing emergency workers finding the body of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei also circulated online, and even propoganda of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being dead went viral.
Netanyahu's latest address to the world, debunking false rumours of his death, was claimed to be AI generated as well.
How To spot a fake AI war video: Your cheat sheet
1. Run a reverse image search
Take a screenshot from the video and run it through reverse-image search tools like Google Images or TinEye. If the image appears in posts dated before the current conflict, it's likely old footage being recycled as new.
2. Look for visual glitches - but don't rely on them alone
AI fabrications are becoming more convincing and harder for seasoned experts to identify. The obvious old tells - like human hands with too many fingers - have largely disappeared from high-quality fakes. But inconsistencies remain. Check whether structures, vessels, or landscapes in the video match real-world reference images of that location. Check win direction, and how things are moving, look for logos on tshirts, and movements of the lips and expressions.
3. Cross-check account credibility
Many accounts sharing misinformation on X have blue check marks and words like "Iran" or "news" in their usernames — which proves nothing. Check whether the account is affiliated with an official body or credible organisation, and watch for accounts that seem to change identity with every new crisis.
4. Don't outsource your judgment to chatbots
People are increasingly asking chatbots whether viral content is real - but analysts warn this approach is flawed. Chatbots have no real ability to discern visual accuracy; their reliability depends entirely on the quality and recency of training data. Always verify at the source, never rely solely on an AI summary.
5. Check for AI watermarks and metadata
Tools like Google's SynthID can detect whether an image was created or altered using AI. The BBC used it to expose several fakes circulating during the Iran war. However, know the limits: users can strip metadata from images before uploading to social media, and detection tools for video remain underdeveloped.
6. Wait for wire services to confirm
Before sharing anything dramatic - a warship on fire, a city in ruins, a military leader's death - check whether Reuters, AP, or AFP have independently verified it. If three wire services haven't touched it, neither should you.
7. Blue check IS NOT credible
AFP's global network of fact-checkers identified a stream of AI fakes spread by X's premium accounts with blue check marks - accounts that can be purchased, not earned. Verification symbols no longer mean what they used to.
The danger of AI war fakes isn't just misinformation - it's what happens after. The speed and realism of today's AI tools mark a significant escalation from previous conflicts. According to analysts at the Brookings Institution, AI is turning propaganda into a weapon accessible to anyone with a computer and an internet connection - and social media platforms, despite attempted crackdowns, simply cannot keep pace with the speed of dissemination.
