Photo: Moment RF
If you’re a regular social media user, chances are you’ve already seen some of it. Iran has been using AI images and videos to supplement their already advanced propaganda machine as part of their attempt to control the narrative surrounding the war there.
Jonathan Gilliam, a former Navy SEAL and FBI special agent, says this has been a go-to tactic for the Iranian regime since 1979. “Their greatest weapon has never been missiles, bombs, or even talented fighters,” he explained. “It’s been their intelligence apparatus.”
As AI technology has advanced faster and faster—and AI-generated photos and videos have become more and more realistic—the regime’s intelligence apparatus has become more and more powerful. Gilliam added that that’s where much of Iran’s money has been spent, and it’s paid off.
He now believes that targeting and eliminating that apparatus needs to become a top priority in our war with them. “You destroy all their weapons, kill everybody in their leadership, but that apparatus is still spread around the world,” he said. “It can be dismantled, and it can be destroyed.”
Gilliam says dismantling it is going to require a lot of outside-the-box thinking. He raised concerns that if too many “in-the-box” military minds get in Trump’s ear, they won’t be able to get it done—but he’s hopeful that President Trump is enough of an out-of-the-box thinker to recognize the problem and address it.