How ‘AI caused’ an explosion near Pentagon and put Twitter verification in question

An AI-generated image of an explosion near the Pentagon appeared briefly on Twitter sending the world into a tizzy. The image not only gave fodder to the critics of artificial intelligence technology but also raised questions about the Twitter Blue verification model.

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense and an image showing an explosion near the building will surely attract eyeballs, especially if it is tweeted by a ‘verified’ Twitter account. The company later suspended the account.

Pentagon ‘attack’
An AI-generated image appeared on Twitter and was reshared several times.