Charlie Kirk Killing Sparks Wild Misinformation
OREM, UTAH – SEPTEMBER 10: People run after shots were fired during an appearance by Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. (Photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
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The shooting of Charlie Kirk has unleashed a wave of conspiracy theories and misinformation, much of it coming from chatbots.
Yesterday, for example, the X account of AI chatbot Perplexity was confidently proclaiming that Kirk was still alive. The post has since been removed.
But Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok, meanwhile, was under a similar misapprehension. “The video is a meme edit—Charlie Kirk is debating, and effects make it look like he’s ‘shot’ mid-sentence for comedic effect,” it claimed. “No actual harm; he’s fine and active as ever.”
This isn’t the first time that chatbots have delivered confidently false information.
“During the Los Angeles protests and Israel-Hamas war, users similarly turned to chatbots for answers and were served inaccurate information,” the researchers said.
“Despite repeated examples of these tools confidently repeating falsehoods, as documented in NewsGuard’s Monthly AI False Claims Monitor, many continue to treat AI systems as reliable sources in moments of crisis and uncertainty.”
Reassuringly, most of the videos currently in circulation are real, according to an analysis by GetReal Security.
“We have analyzed several of the videos circulating online and find no evidence of manipulation or tampering. At the same time, we are seeing some AI-generated videos of the event that are clearly fake,” said cofounder Hany Farid. “This is an example of how fake content can muddy the waters and in turn cast doubt on legitimate content.”
Meanwhile, according to NewsGuard, pro-Kremlin sources have been claiming that Kirk was on the Myrotvorets blacklist, a database of perceived Ukrainian enemies. But, said the reliability ratings agency, “There is no evidence that Kirk was ever on the list, and a NewsGuard search of his name on the database yielded no results.”
And a request for help from the FBI has encouraged internet users to suggest various candidates as the shooter. The FBI has created a form for people to fill in if they have any information, posting a picture of a “person of interest”.
However, in the replies to the FBI tweet, several people suggest that their clever detective work may have unmasked the shooter.
“I’m a portrait artist and this looks like a match. I used some poor Photoshop work, but given the different angles this could be your guy,” writes one, with another posting a pair of pictures and the comment “I’m not saying it’s him, but the resemblance is striking.”
And there have been widespread suggestions—as yet unsupported by any evidence—that the killer was left-wing, Mexican or transgender.
Unsurprisingly, the “deep state” comes into many accusations – including one from British political figure George Galloway.
“I think the American deep-state murdered Charlie Kirk. The people who tried twice to murder Donald Trump. Who murdered Bobby Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King. And President Kennedy himself,” he wrote.
Many internet users, meanwhile, are making a connection with Israel.
“This guy is mossad. he works for israel. mossad killed charlie kirk. netanyahu ordered it. an idf sniper. he’s doing secret mossad hand signals. actually like every other big right wing guy works for them and did this,” one user posted on X.
Keyboard detectives are advised to be cautious and share their suspicions only with the FBI, with similar accusations having led to lawsuits in Australia and the U.S..