The picture shows smoke that billows, thick and black.
The smoke appears to be coming from the area adjacent to a white building in a park, surrounded by high fences.
And suddenly it's everywhere in social media.
Two tweets about the alleged explosion. Photo: Facsimile
It is shared by state-controlled Russian media house RT on Twitter. Several accounts with blue verification checkmarks also share the image, including an account pretending to be the news site Bloomberg. Everyone claims that an explosion took place at the Pentagon in the United States.
But it's not genuine Bloomberg News.
And the image they share is not genuine either – but in all likelihood an AI fake.
Although the fire department denied the claim on social media, the spread led to a short-lived decline in the stock market in the United States, according to the AP.
The incident demonstrates several of today's concerns:
That anyone can buy a blue verified account on Twitter, claim to be an official news site, and start spreading disinformation. That readily available AI tools can generate realistic images, which are used to "prove" a lot of different false claims. That AI-created images can even affect the stock market.
Creating a similar image is quick. In just a few minutes, SVT can generate a series of realistic AI images showing an explosion, but this time in Stockholm instead of Washington.
In the video above, you can see the AI images – and our review of the details that point to the images being fake.