New Delhi, May 23: The AI-generated image of an explosion at the Pentagon that appeared on several verified Twitter accounts has once again put Twitter's paid verification programme in question that allows anyone to pay $8 a month and get the verified Blue tick.

Several media outlets and millions of Twitter users took the fake verified Twitter account 'Bloomberg Feed' for a real Bloomberg-affiliated account, as it had a blue check. Meta Fined Record USD 1.3 Billion, Ordered To Stop Sending European User Data to US.

Twitter suspended that account later, but the damage was already done. The fake tweet spooked some investors. The S&P 500 dropped sharply in the minutes after well-followed accounts amplified the image. It later recovered those losses, reports NBC News.

The image depicted a large plume of smoke next to a rectangular building with only a passing resemblance to the Pentagon.

Russian state-controlled news network RT also shared the image, according to screenshots that users captured before the tweet was deleted. Several Twitter accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers, like Deltaone, OSINTdefender and Whale Chart, shared it, reports TechCrunch.

The incident also raised the question of how generative AI could be used to trick users at a mass level. 'India Is in Such Wonderful Hands': US Ambassador Eric Garcetti Praises PM Narendra Modi’s Leadership and His Government's Policies (Watch Video).

The Arlington, Virginia, fire department tweeted that "there is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon." After the fake Pentagon image went viral, a copycat hoaxer also pushed a similar image of the White House on fire.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 23, 2023 11:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).