Trump vs Iran in the AI Slop War

A lull in the fighting between the United States and Iran has not stopped U.S. President Donald Trump from using artificial intelligence-generated images to threaten Tehran, with the Islamic Republic responding in kind. Michal Klincewicz, a cognitive science expert, told Newsweek he believed Tehran was winning the AI war against the U.S. “They (Iran) are changing the narrative, creating more viral, shareable content, thereby outmaneuvering the U.S. in the realm of cognitive warfare,” he said. Wired reported that the videos, which have had millions of views, are produced by Explosive Media, a group of young Iranians well versed in U.S. popular culture who have been linked to the Iranian government. On July 23, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the clips, saying that Iran was not ready to do a deal, “but they will be soon. Because the price they are paying is very high, despite their tough talk and flowery language and stupid LEGO videos.” The next day, a clip called Rubio “a little clown” and a “little lap dog stuck under the loser's thumb.” “Relative to Iran's Lego campaign, the White House slopaganda is of significantly lower quality and, in my opinion, has lower impact,” said Klincewicz. “The White House is primarily focused on the domestic U.S. audience, it seems, and its own voter base—boomer memes for boomers, basically.” Cory Alpert, who has written about how Trump uses AI during the Iran War, told Newsweek: “It's a tactic that's built for the current era of media consumption. These videos can be clipped and shared, and the visual language becomes something that other people who are also consuming this content can understand around each other.”