Starting with topic 1: How is this disinformation being utilized? Well, the obvious answer is to gain a political foothold. Not long ago, President-Elect Donald Trump spoke on the fires and blamed Governor Gavin Newsom for the death and destruction caused. Trump stated that he “will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this.” Already this paints a terrible picture for not just Governor Newsom, but it also politicizes a natural disaster that has caused many to lose their lives entirely. This statement is harmful in a number of ways, hurting both Democrats and those affected by the fire alike, mocking their losses as a political point. If this wasn’t enough, then we can also look at how AI has played into these problems. Ever since the Sunset Blvd fire erupted, AI images have been sporadically passed around the internet detailing Hollywood’s beloved landmark up in flames. Now the harm of this is quite obvious, and that’s with the risks of going outside due to the air quality or not being close to the sign, many of us were forced to wonder whether or not the landmark was or was not on fire. Now of course it was later proved by evidence from the fire maps and footage of cameras focused on the monument would quickly prove it to be a hoax, the image itself proves that the AI, if used without regulation, can have extremely negative effects when used to manipulate a situation already descending people into chaos. In fact, just recently, Mark Zuckerberg himself stated that “First, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.” He said this in regards to his own social media platform, which is incredibly contradictory to the site’s push for truth in the media.

Now from all this, the biggest question should obviously be “what can we do to prevent this?” Well, on the topic of Trump’s comment, it’s hard to say how to directly prevent the comment, but what you can prevent is the comment’s spread. It’s clear that messages like this gain more traction and power the more they are spread, so what’s best is that you prevent that from happening by refusing to spread it. You can also check to make sure that the statement is actually true, rather than instantly believing it due to the mouth it came from. As for the AI problems, the fix there is to regulate its use. With how much it’s used today, it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not, so the best thing you can do is once again fact check. You can also cross reference the image with other images to prove which one is true and which one is false. Overall, the fires have caused many cases of misinformation to spread, and with it people have become unsure what to believe and what to put their trust in. The best thing we can do right now is just hold our breath and pray that this horrific time passes by us, that we will no longer have to live in fear of losing our homes and loved ones, and that all the misinformation will finally be cleared up and cast aside in light of the truth. After all, right now, misinformation and disinformation has been widespread throughout the media at the moment of writing this, casting L.A. fire victims into more chaos and disorder.