A fake image of an explosion at the Pentagon briefly went viral and caused a ten-minute-long dip in the markets on Monday (May 22), stoking further talk that generative AI could cause problems to society.
The image, which many observers suspected came from artificial intelligence, was spread by several accounts, forcing the Pentagon to comment that there was no such explosion. Two tweets were sent at 10.09 am local time on Monday and amassed over half a million views in just a few hours.
The Arlington, Virginia fire department also reacted, posting on social media that there was no explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon.
The incident followed other occurrences of fake imagery that also created buzz recently on the internet, including former US president Donald Trump getting arrested and Pope Francis in a puffer jacket.
Posts with this claim shared an image purportedly depicting a cloud of smoke near a white-fenced building. The content, however, appears to be AI-generated.
The shared image caused the markets to be knocked for a few minutes, with the S&P 500 stumbling by 0.29 percent compared to its Friday close before recovering.
“There was a dip likely related to this fake news as the (trading) machines picked up on it, but I would submit that the scope of the decline did not match the seemingly bad nature of the fake news,” said Pat O’Hare of Briefing.com.
Source: Agencies
