Hackers led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps interfered in streaming platforms in the UAE, UK and Canada with news broadcasts generated by AI. 

In each case, a synthetic news anchor showed unverified photos that claimed to show Palestinians injured and killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza, accompanied by a ticker displaying the number of Palestinians killed and wounded in the war. 

A message on the affected channels said, 'We have no choice but to hack to deliver this message to you,' reported Dubai-based newspaper the Khaleej Times.

According to Microsoft, 'This marked the first Iranian influence operation Microsoft has detected where AI played a key component in its messaging and is one example of the fast and significant expansion in the scope of Iranian operations since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.' The hackers were named by Microsoft as 'Cotton Sandstorm'.

The incident prompted commentators to express concerns about the use of fake AI-generated content to disrupt the many national political elections due to take place in 2024, and more broadly about how AI can be used to turbocharge the spread of disinformation.