AI Fails & Newsroom Narratives

March 14, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Hello,

From AI chatbots hallucinating ‘facts’ amid geopolitical crises to Indian news channels prioritising viral graphics over verified facts, the distance between what’s happening and what we’re being told is growing. This edition dives into the glitches in our information ecosystem—both the algorithmic and the human. Read on!

LEARN FROM BOOM

Iran, Pakistan, Kabul? Grok Maps 3 Different 'Facts' For The Same Viral Video

In moments of geopolitical escalation, when misinformation spreads fastest and verification matters most, users are increasingly outsourcing fact-checking to AI chatbots embedded within social media platforms.

But as the recent conflict between Iran, Israel, and the US proved, AI can be just as confused as the rest of the internet—only much more confident about it.

When footage of an attack on a school in Iran’s Minab began circulating on X, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, was put to the test. In my investigation, I found that within 24 hours, Grok identified the same video as three different events: first, a 2014 Taliban attack in Pakistan; then, a 2021 ISIS-K bombing in Kabul; and finally, a recent strike in Iran.

This isn't just a technical glitch; it’s a warning. While Grok attempted to ‘fact-check’ the video in real-time, it ended up recycling old hoaxes and debunked data to prove its conflicting claims. 

It’s a classic case of an AI being treated as an arbiter of truth in a situation where it lacks the nuance to distinguish between a historical tragedy and a breaking news event.

Unlike independent fact-checkers — who rely on multi-source verification, transparent methodologies, and avoid publishing in grey areas — chatbots generate probabilistic outputs based on available online data, which may itself be flawed or incomplete. 

TL;DR: In a fast-moving conflict, real-time AI can often mean real-time misinformation. If the bot can’t decide which country it’s looking at, we probably shouldn’t let it do our thinking for us.

DECODE

How Indian TV News Coverage Of Iran Is Fueling Panic At Home

For most of us, ‘breaking news’ tickers and flashing missile graphics are just part of the 24-hour news cycle. But for thousands of Indian families with children studying in Iran or relatives working in the Gulf, those graphics feel like a countdown to a nightmare. 

Hera Rizwan’s deep dive into Indian TV news coverage shows a worrying trend of sensationalism fueling real-world panic. From headlines flashing “In a few hours Iran’s skies will be under US control,” “Massive bombardment in Iran,” “Trump preparing for the final strike” to anchors citing hostage crises from 1979 as current events, the gap between responsible reporting and ratings-driven rhetoric is widening. 

The human cost: Parents in places like Kashmir—where many students head to Iran for medical degrees—are glued to screens that favour high-octane visuals over verified facts. We’ve seen old clips of building fires in Sharjah and airplane evacuations in Denver being resurfaced by major channels as fresh strikes in the current conflict. 

"I know these channels can be inaccurate and tend to exaggerate," a 45-year-old mother in Srinagar told Decode. "But where else can we get information from right now?"

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍  A video purportedly showing External Affairs Ministry (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal saying India supports Israel and threatening Iran over an attack on an India-bound commercial ship is a digitally altered deepfake, 🔗 Srijit Das ↗️ found.

🔍  An image claiming to show an Iranian missile carrying the message “In memory of the victims of Epstein Island” is fake and likely AI-generated. BOOM’s 🔗 Anmol Alphonso ↗️ found that the viral image has been digitally edited with the text and the visual itself appears to be generated using AI tools.

🔍  Several pro-Iran and pro-Pakistan accounts on X circulated a video of a massive fire in a Delhi fish market, falsely claiming that it shows an attack on an India-Israel drone facility in Delhi that triggered a huge explosion. Read 🔗 Srijit Das’ ↗️ fact-check.

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: X Is Drowning in Disinformation Following US and Israeli Attack on Iran

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Verified By Boom is written by Divya Chandra, edited by Adrija Bose and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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