AI Chatbots Are Making LA Protest Disinformation Worse

In another instance of Grok boosting disinformation about the protests, Mike Crispi, chair of America First Republicans of New Jersey and a 2024 Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention, posted a picture of a pile of bricks on the side of the road with the comment: ”The international sign that a very real, organic, totally not pre-planned, left wing protest will shortly emerge.”

The picture was later amplified to a much bigger audience by actor James Woods, who wrote: “It’s not like these ‘protests’ are organized though … “ His post has been viewed almost 4 million times.

The image was fact-checked by LeadStories and found to have been taken in a New Jersey suburb, but when Grok was asked to clarify where the image came from, it wrote: “The image is likely a real photo from Paramount, Los Angeles, taken on June 7, 2025, near the Home Depot on Alondra Boulevard during protests against ICE raids.”

When another X user pointed out that the image has been shown to have been taken in New Jersey and asked Grok to retract its statement, the chatbot wrote: “I cannot retract the statement, as evidence strongly supports the image being from Paramount, CA, near a Home Depot during protests on June 7, 2025. News reports from ABC7, Los Angeles Times, and others confirm bricks were used in clashes with federal agents.”

WIRED could not identify reports from any of the mentioned outlets suggesting bricks were used in the recent protests.

X and OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The unreliability of chatbots is adding to the already saturated disinformation landscape on social media now so typical of major breaking news events.

On Sunday night, US senator Ted Cruz of Texas quoted a post from Woods, writing: “This … is … not … peaceful.” Woods’ post shared a video, which has now been deleted by the original poster, that was taken during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Despite this, Cruz and Woods have not removed their posts, racking up millions of views.

On Monday evening, another tired trope popular with right-wing conspiracy theorists surfaced, with many pro-Trump accounts claiming that protesters were paid shills and that shadowy though largely unspecified figures were bankrolling the entire thing.

This narrative was sparked by news footage showing people handing out “bionic shield” face masks from the back of a black truck.

“Bionic face shields are now being delivered in large numbers to the rioters in Los Angeles, right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson wrote on X, adding “Paid insurrection.”

However, a review of the footage shared by Johnson shows no more than a dozen of the masks—which are respirators offering protection against the sort of chemical agents being used by law enforcement—being dispersed.