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A top Russian state-run news website used X’s artificial intelligence tools to generate an image of a new fighter jet — but neglected to scrub the tech platform’s watermark off the manipulated portrayal.
RT, formerly Russia Today, shared the image on X, alongside a caption that read, “Russia advances sixth-generation fighter development.”
The outlet attributed the declaration to Russian aircraft maker Sukhoi and posted a message from Sukhoi to another Russian-run media outlet as well.
RT failed to scrub a watermark for X’s AI off of the image of the jet, however.
Readers on the X platform, owned by Elon Musk, posted their own note attached to the post by X that said the image was manipulated.
“This image is AI-generated by the built-in X AI, Grok,” the note said. “The watermark is visible in the bottom-right hand corner.”
Russian media may have wanted to show off air prowess online to keep up with its great-power competitors.
Last month, two new stealth jets were spotted on Chinese social media. Some defense analysts believe the images represented Beijing’s first sixth-generation stealth fighters. Chinese state-run media refrained from carrying news articles acknowledging the new jets.
The U.S. military is working on its own sixth-generation fighter as well, the Next Generation Air Dominance. The Air Force halted its development last year to succeed the current F-22 Raptor, however, over cost concerns, with more than $5 billion spent in recent years.
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