Sam Gregory

With @cward1e, talked to @hari for @AmanpourCoPBS deep-dive on how #AI content is impacting elections Satire to deception to resurrection to dismissing the real....highlighting detection challenges, avoiding blaming ourselves, and pipeline responsibility youtu.be/OPYv9SvY4Uk?si…

How can journalists navigate the rising threat of deepfakes and synthetic media? @SamGregory introduces the Deepfakes Rapid Response Force, a project from @witnessorg that connects reporters with forensic experts to verify suspicious content and protect reporting integrity. Watch the full Lightning Talk from #MediaParty 2025 now available here👇 mediaparty.org/2026/04/16/sam…

Great conversation with Tai Nalon and Felix Simon at #ijf26 on "When seeing is no longer believing: perils and possibilities in a world of synthetic media" with our differing viewpoints on scope, societal implications, and what to do youtube.com/watch?v=yYwu8H…

OpenAI is shutting down Sora. But the damage is done: normalized AI slop, eroded trust in what's real, detection inadequate, provenance tools still MIA without senior company leadership, shameful normalization of likeness theft. Thanks, but no thanks, Sam linkedin.com/feed/update/ur…

Iran is the worst-case scenario for everything we’ve been warning about: AI fakes, civilian footage dismissed as fabricated, and underneath it all, a regime that has engineered the doubt itself. “The problem is curated access. The regime controls who gets to document and what gets documented.” I spoke to @morganmeaker for Bloomberg Weekend on the information war in the Iran war. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Hyper-realistic AI both to create fantasy images that illustrate people's hopes, and where the wish that something is fake finds a ready-made access point via poor forensic analysis: Talked with @chowarchis @boomlive_in about is it/isn't it Netanyahu vids boomlive.in/explainers/net…

New piece with shirin anlen based on our work at @witnessorg on how 'forensic cosplay' (h/t @CraigSilverman) is being used to discredit authentic photos of civilian casualties in the Iran war. The fake heatmap and "ELA" case spread through my own networks. People I know concluded the photos were fake, primed by justified distrust of state sources. That distrust is legitimate. But it can lead to dangerous denialism. With references to @Shayan86 and @talhagin who have been working on the deluge of AI cases during this war and insights from forensics specialists.

This past week I wrote about what we’re seeing now: evidence and documentation of what’s actually happening being actively undermined by a polluted info environment with AI accelerating the damage.

Since the Iran-Israel war began in June, @WITNESSorg has been tracking how AI is reshaping the information environment around the conflict, starting with this piece with @samgregory and work that fed into a recent @OversightBoard ruling on governing AI content during war.

At the report launch, our Executive Director @SamGregory discussed the impact of AI on humanitarian action in an increasingly complex information environment and the need to maintain the ability to know what is real. 📲Read more here: blog.witness.org/2026/03/ifrc-w…

The moral collapse of OpenAI in one repost.

In an AI-shaped world, video is still crucial for accountability, but its credibility is under pressure. 🔗Read the full @nytimes article where our Executive Director, @SamGregory, discusses this “deeply contradictory” moment and how we can still show what’s real with video: nytimes.com/2026/02/15/us/…

It's a paradoxical moment: a fog of doubt settles over our AI-slop timelines, yet bystander video in Minneapolis powerfully reaffirms witnessing. I talked to the @nytimes about the world we're in. Defending reality in this world is what @witnessorg does. nytimes.com/2026/02/15/us/…

"We are not built to watch murders on our phones…then casually scroll to a job update." @baratunde began. Then...how to witness ICE/CBP violence, discern real from fake, and build archives of accountability despite AI. It's our work @witnessorg lifewithmachines.media/p/seeing-is-no…

I'm co-hosting a new BBC podcast! It's called The Interface, and it's all about how tech is rewiring your week and your world. bbc.com/mediacentre/bb…

Filming federal agents in public is legal, but avoiding a dangerous—even deadly—confrontation isn’t guaranteed. Here’s how to record ICE and CBP agents as safely as possible and have an impact. wired.com/story/how-to-f…

Quilicura, Chile, one of the communities I wrote about in EMPIRE OF AI, has launched a brilliant initiative to inspire more responsible AI prompting. Today, don't use AI; ask the townspeople instead: quili.ai. So heartened to see this creative act of resistance.

WITNESS is hosting a public session in Arabic about AI-generated content. 📅 Feb 10 | ⏰ 1:00 PM Beirut time تستضيف WITNESS جلسة تدريبية عامة باللغة العربية حول فهم واكتشاف المحتوى المُنتَج بالذكاء الاصطناعي. يمكن التقديم من خلال الرابط 📲wit.to/AI_WebinarArab…

.@JeffBezos I cover international security for @washingtonpost and reported on ISIS, Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, al-Qaeda, Iran and Israel. I’ve been imprisoned, lived under threats, and escaped kidnappings to do this work. #Journalism matters to America and the world. #SaveThePost

Russia banned me and colleagues for our reporting for @washingtonpost .This is the price of telling the truth. .@JeffBezos, journalism is under fire. Please help all of #America and the #World by protecting #Journalism that is fair, independent, and truly matters. #SaveThePost