Is it real or is it AI? Misinformation seen by millions is spreading online in the wake of the war in the Middle East.(ABC NEWS Verify)The footage is spectacular.A warship letting loose a dramatic barrage towards a swooping plane.The plane dodges and weaves across the bright blue sky before finally bursting into flames and crashing into the sea.It looks like a triumph of military strength.The only problem? It's not real.Loading...The vision appears to be from a popular military simulation video game called "War Thunder".The clip has racked up more than seven million views on X, where it was posted as "An Iranian plane VS a US ship."More than 15,000 people have liked the video since it was posted on March 2.The clip was reportedly re-shared — and then quickly deleted — by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.While most of the comments are sceptical, many question if it's an AI creation. A few appear to believe it's real.The sheer scale of this conflict, combined with rapid advancements in generative AI technology, is making it harder for people to discern fact from fiction, according to TJ Thomson, an RMIT expert in digital media and visual communication."We see billions of images a day. Hundreds of thousands of hours of video being generated a day — generated through cameras, but also through AI now, and that is just a massive amount of data and media to understand, to grapple with," Dr Thomson told ABC NEWS Verify.Loading"That definitely does cloud and muddy our information environment and make it more difficult to understand what's going on and to have trust in what's going on."Misinformation spreadingLoading...This video claiming to be of an attack on the US embassy in Saudi Arabia is actually a road accident from earlier this year.A quick check of a widely shared photo — which users claimed was of an Iranian drone strike on a US base in Iraq — showed it was generated or edited using AI.Dr Thomson said the rapid pace of AI technology meant people soon wouldn't be able to believe their own eyes."I think we're definitely getting there, sadly," he said."We do see so much AI content out there, so much AI slop out there and that does kind of make us, in some cases, question legitimate, independent, accurate information."We are in this really tough, tricky era where we have so much quick advancement of technology and not enough catch-up with our abilities to be able to grapple with it and respond." Analysis of an image – of an Iranian drone strike on a US base in Iraq – showed it was generated or edited using AI.(ABC NEWS Verify)AI confusionDespite some AI tools assisting with efforts to examine material relating to this conflict, artificial intelligence has also led to more unreliable information.As reported by NewsGuard, AI overviews generated by Google have produced inaccurate summaries of images related to the conflict.ABC NEWS Verify found similar instances of Google Lens's AI mode overviews generating incorrect information related to the conflict, including:Misidentifying images from videos of a December 2025 fire in Abu Dhabi, suggesting it showed the aftermath of retaliatory Iranian missile and drone strikes in March 2026.Suggesting that images from a recording of the video game "ARMA" uploaded to YouTube showed US-Israeli strikes against Iran.Suggesting another image from a different recording from "ARMA" depicted explosions from missile and drone strikes on Iraqi cities on March 2.Loading...Loading...Loading...Loading...Dr Thomson said the ways people engaged with news also made it harder to find the truth."The majority of people do use their smartphones to look at content online," he said"Eighty per cent or so are looking at really small screens, going through things quickly on social media."That doesn't let us have the opportunity to scrutinise things at a very high degree."Fact vs fictionDr Thomson said the consequences were potentially far-reaching."AI can be lovely and wonderful and have productive, pro-social, beneficial uses, certainly. But conversely, it also has huge issues," he said."If people don't trust experts or fact-checked information or evidence, you really have a huge potential for collapse, societal discord, polarisation, fractured institutions, making decisions not based on evidence, but based on feelings and emotions."He offered advice for people hoping to avoid being duped."Focus more on sources, trustworthy sources, rather than on individual pieces of content," he said"I would say pause before sharing or pause before re-sharing and ask yourself, 'Has this particular piece of content or this claim been re-shared by reputable, trustworthy organisations?'"Loading...Posted 1h ago1 hours agoWed 4 Mar 2026 at 7:09pmShare optionsCopy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)Related storiesKhamenei survived a hidden bomb but was no match for US, IsraelTopic:WarBy striking Gulf states Iran is hitting one of Trump's vulnerabilitiesLAnalysis by Laura TingleStranded Aussies pay thousands in desperate dash home from overseasTopic:WarRelated topicsAIIran, Islamic Republic OfIraqMediaSaudi ArabiaWarBack to top