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“Tel Aviv, stripped of illusion, as you have never witnessed it,” read the caption above a viral March 2026 video showing missiles hammering the Israeli city as explosions burst across the night sky. To the casual scroller, it appeared to be a harrowing document of modern conflict. The problem, however, was that the video was a deepfake.

Deepfakes are synthetic media edited or generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to the New York Times, a “cascade of A.I. fakes about war with Iran” have proliferated across social media since the United States (U.S.) and Israel reignited military actions with Iran on February 28, 2026. Indeed, the digital landscape is increasingly saturated with synthetic fabrications, as false videos of boisterous celebrations, frantic airport evacuations, devastating bombings, and graphic casualties flood users’ feeds in a relentless stream of misinformation.

As these digital fabrications blur the line between reality and simulation, the necessity for Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacy (CAIL) has moved from an educational luxury to a vital requirement. We are currently navigating a landscape where the “fog of war” is no longer just a metaphor for confusion on the battlefield, but a literal description of an information environment choked by “AI slop.” Indeed, one study found that more than 20% of the content on YouTube is AI generated. Without a robust, systemic effort to instill CAIL, the public remains defenseless against sophisticated psychological operations. We must understand not just how to use these tools, but the socio-political structures that own them and the inherent biases they encode.

From Trojan Horses to Tonkin

The deployment of false information is not a modern phenomenon; it has been a foundational staple of conflict since the ancient world. From the Greeks’ legendary construction of a hollow wooden horse to infiltrate Troy, to Genghis Khan’s Mongol cavalry utilizing feigned retreats to lure enemies into fatal disarray, strategic deception has always defined the battlefield.

In modern democracies like the U.S., leaders have frequently refined these tactics into “false news” designed to manufacture public consent for intervention. This pattern of deception is evident in the “phantom” attack in the Gulf of Tonkin used to escalate the Vietnam War and the infamous claims of “phantom” Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) that prefaced the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Beyond initiating conflict, misinformation serves to artificially sustain public morale and project an illusion of progress. This was notoriously exemplified by the White House during the Vietnam War, where official reports continuously claimed the U.S. was winning even as internal assessments acknowledged a........

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