It doesn’t matter if the Netanyahu coffee video is real. We are screwed no matter what

Is Benjamin Netanyahu dead? According to this video posted on March 15 by the Israeli prime minister’s office, he’s alive and thriving. You may have seen it online, along with a rabid debate between the crowd who claims it is fake (it is not) and the people who say it is real (which is correct, as determined by fact checkers and independent intelligence analysts). But we are not here to debate about what is true or not. What matters is the debate itself. It’s another point of proof in our new normal: Since AI can make up believable new realities, people now doubt reality itself, using that claim to support their beliefs and push their agendas. The rumors of Netanyahu’s demise caught fire after the U.S. and Israel executed strikes on Iran on February 28. Following those attacks, the prime minister’s public appearances at military bases and targeted towns were heavily restricted, creating an information vacuum that Iranian state broadcasters eagerly filled with claims o