A spike in misinformation amid the dire situation in Gaza has highlighted how imperfect artificial intelligence systems are being used to perpetuate it.
Reaction to a recent social media post from US Senator Bernie Sanders in which he shared a photo of an emaciated child in the besieged Palestinian enclave shows just how fast AI tools can spur the spread of incorrect narratives.
In the post on X, he accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of lying by promoting the idea that there was "no starvation in Gaza".
A user asked Grok, X's AI chatbot, for more information on the origin of the images.
"These images are from 2016, showing malnourished children in a hospital in Houdieda, Yemen, amid the civil war there ... They do not depict current events in Gaza," Grok said.
Several other users, however, were able to verify that the images were in fact recently taken in Gaza, but initially those voices were overtaken by hundreds who reposted Grok's incorrect answer.
Proponents of Israel's continuing strategy in Gaza used the false information from Grok to perpetuate the narrative that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was being exaggerated.
Initially, when some users tried to tell the chatbot that is was wrong, and explained why it was wrong, Grok stood firm.
"I'm committed to facts, not any agenda ... the images are from Yemen in 2016," it insisted. "Correcting their misuse in a Gaza context isn't lying – it's truth."
Later however, after metadata and sources confirmed that the photos had been taken in Gaza, Grok apologised.
Another recent incident involving Grok's confident wrong answers about the situation in Gaza also led to the spread of falsehoods.
Several images began circulating on social media purporting to show people in Egypt filling bottles with food and throwing them into the sea with hopes of them reaching Gaza.
While there were several videos that showed similar efforts, many of the photos circulating were later determined to be fake, according to PolitiFact, a non-partisan independent reporting fact-check organisation.
This is not the first time Grok's answers have come under scrutiny. Last month, the chatbot started to answer user prompts with offensive comments, including giving anti-Semitic answers to prompts and praising Adolf Hitler.
High stakes and major consequences
AI chatbot enthusiasts are quick to point out that the technology is far from perfect and that it continues to learn. Grok and other chatbots include disclaimers warning users that they can be prone to mistakes.
In the fast-paced social media world, however, those fine-print warnings are often forgotten, while the risks from the ramifications of misinformation increase substantially – most recently with regard to the Gaza war.
Israel's campaign in Gaza – which followed the 2023 attacks by Hamas-led fighters that resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the capture of 240 hostages – has killed more than 60,200 people and injured about 147,000.
The war has raged against a backdrop of technology development that's causing ample confusion.
"This chilling disconnect between reality and narratives online and in the media has increasingly become a feature of modern war," wrote Mahsa Alimardani and Sam Gregory in a recent analysis on AI and conflict for the Carnegie Endowment think tank.
The experts pointed out that while several tools can be used to verify photos and video in addition to flagging possible AI manipulation, it will take broader efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation.
Technology companies, they say, must "share the burden by embedding provenance responsibly, facilitating globally effective detection, flagging materially deceptive manipulated content, and doubling down on protecting users in high-risk regions".
AI's triumphs and continuing tribulations
A lot of the recent misinformation and disinformation controversies related to AI and modern conflict can be traced back to the various AI tools and how they handle images.
Stretching back to the earliest days of AI, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers sought to replicate the human brain – more specifically the brain's neural networks that consist of neurons and electrical signals that strengthen over time, giving humans the ability to reason, remember and identify.
As computer processors have become increasingly powerful and more economical, replicating those neural networks – often called "artificial neural networks" in the technology world – have become significantly easier.
The internet, with its seemingly endless photos, videos and data, has also become a way for those neural networks to be constantly trained on information.
Some of the earliest uses of AI involved software that made it possible to identify images. This was demonstrated back in 2012 by Alex Krizhevsky, then a student at the University of Toronto, whose research was overseen by British-Canadian computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, considered to be the godfather of AI.
"We trained a large, deep convolutional neural network to classify the 1.2 million high-resolution images," his paper on deep convolutional neural networks read. "Our results show that a large, deep convolutional neural network is capable of achieving record-breaking results on a highly challenging data set." He added, however, that the network had the potential to degrade and pointed out it was far from perfect.
AI has since improved by leaps and bounds, though there is still room for improvement.
The latest AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini have capitalised on powerful CPUs and GPUs, making it possible for just about anyone to upload an image and ask the chatbot to explain what the image is showing.
For example, some users have uploaded pictures of plants they can't recognise into chatbots to identify. When it works, it is helpful; when it doesn't, it's usually harmless.
In the world of mass media, however, and more broadly the world of social media, when chatbots are wrong – such as Grok was about the Gaza photos – the consequences can have wide-reaching effects.
A German university was a good fit for the family budget
Annual fees for the Technical University of Munich - £600
Shared rental accommodation per month depending on the location ranges between £200-600
The family had budgeted for food, books, travel, living expenses - £20,000 annually
Overall costs in Germany are lower than the family estimated
As proof that the student has the ability to take care of expenses, international students must open a blocked account with about £8,640
Students are permitted to withdraw £720 per month
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
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Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
8 UAE companies helping families reduce their carbon footprint
Greenheart Organic Farms
This Dubai company was one of the country’s first organic farms, set up in 2012, and it now delivers a wide array of fruits and vegetables grown regionally or in the UAE, as well as other grocery items, to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi doorsteps.
www.greenheartuae.com
Modibodi
Founded in Australia, Modibodi is now in the UAE with waste-free, reusable underwear that eliminates the litter created by a woman’s monthly cycle, which adds up to approximately 136kgs of sanitary waste over a lifetime.
www.modibodi.ae
The Good Karma Co
From brushes made of plant fibres to eco-friendly storage solutions, this company has planet-friendly alternatives to almost everything we need, including tin foil and toothbrushes.
www.instagram.com/thegoodkarmaco
Re:told
One Dubai boutique, Re:told, is taking second-hand garments and selling them on at a fraction of the price, helping to cut back on the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothes thrown into landfills each year.
www.shopretold.com
Lush
Lush provides products such as shampoo and conditioner as package-free bars with reusable tins to store.
www.mena.lush.com
Bubble Bro
Offering filtered, still and sparkling water on tap, Bubble Bro is attempting to ensure we don’t produce plastic or glass waste. Founded in 2017 by Adel Abu-Aysha, the company is on track to exceeding its target of saving one million bottles by the end of the year.
www.bubble-bro.com
Coethical
This company offers refillable, eco-friendly home cleaning and hygiene products that are all biodegradable, free of chemicals and certifiably not tested on animals.
www.instagram.com/coethical
Eggs & Soldiers
This bricks-and-mortar shop and e-store, founded by a Dubai mum-of-four, is the place to go for all manner of family products – from reusable cloth diapers to organic skincare and sustainable toys.
www.eggsnsoldiers.com
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
