Incident·WS-0007·May 22, 2023·in the wild·Misinformation & fabrication
Fake AI image of Pentagon explosion briefly moves markets
30/100
WS-2 ModerateHarm score 35, signal score 24. Autonomy: tool (a person misused it). How the scores work.
Harm 1/5
damage actually done
Reach 4/5
who was affected
Autonomy 0/4
how much the AI did on its own
Novelty 3/5
how new the behavior was
Permanence 1/5
how hard it is to undo
A fabricated image of an explosion near the Pentagon spread from verified-badge Twitter accounts and was picked up by some outlets as real. Arlington County Fire Department denied any incident, and U.S. stocks dipped for minutes before recovering.
Damage
S&P 500 fell ~30 points within minutes then recovered; no physical harm
Sources
Petapixel, second source. Generator tool never identified; 'AI-generated' is the consensus of image analysts.
Factor ratings and the score are this index’s judgments by a published formula; facts, dates and figures come from the linked sources. Where a lawsuit is pending, the summary reports allegations, not findings.
