How a fake image of a Pentagon explosion shared on Twitter caused a real dip on Wall Street

It could be the first instance of an AI-generated image sowing enough confusion to move stock markets. A fake image of an explosion next to the Pentagon spread on social media and caused a brief dip in the US stock market on Monday.The now-debunked image showed a plume of smoke billowing beside the headquarters of the US Department of Defense. Experts say it bears the hallmarks of being generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and illustrates the threat the technology poses in terms of misinformation.The image was shared by a number of Twitter accounts carrying a “verified” blue check mark, including one impersonating the Bloomberg news agency – called “@BloombergFeed” – which has since been suspended.The fake news was subsequently spread by dozens of other Twitter accounts, including Russian state-controlled news network RT, which has been blocked in the EU but has a following of more than 3 million on the platform.A number of the accounts that tweeted the fake image seem to be affiliated with conspiracies or Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as a number of cryptocurrency accounts with blue check marks.One of those, “WhaleChart”, tweeted the image along with the text: “BREAKING: Explosion near Pentagon”. That tweet has
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