Bogus Bloomberg Here’s a concerning dispatch from the fresh pits of AI-assisted misinformation hell. A fake image of an explosion at the Pentagon, almost certainly generated by an AI, garnered so much attention on Twitter this morning that, according to Insider, it caused the stock market to briefly dip. The picture was shared by a “verified” account — though of course that means nothing now that you can just pay for a checkmark, with no actual verification process — called “Bloomberg Feed” on Twitter with the misleading caption “Large Explosion Near the Pentagon Complex in Washington, DC — Initial Report.” The post circulated widely enough on the platform to have a real-world impact. After Twitter user DeItaone, who has over 650,000 followers, shared the post at 10:06 am, the stock market fell 0.26 percent a mere four minutes later, according to Insider. Though the market recovered pretty quickly, the ordeal is a great example of just how quickly and effectively AI-generated misinformation can move through our existing information pathways — especially on a platform as deeply flawed as Elon Musk’s Twitter. Prime example of the dangers in the pay-to-verify system: This account, which tweeted a (very likely AI-generated) photo of a (fake) story about an explosion at the Pentagon, looks at first glance like a legit Bloomberg news feed. pic.twitter.com/SThErCln0p — Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) May 22, 2023 Definitely Not Real While we’re still not 100 percent sure the somewhat convincing-looking image was generated by an AI, it certainly has some of the…Seemingly AI-Generated Image of Pentagon Explosion Caused Stock Market to Dip