Local officials said in addition to grappling with natural disasters, they were also responding to a new AI news outlet named Prism McKinley County that they say has regularly published false and misleading information in a time of crisis.

For instance, within the last week, Prism published a story about a woman drowning in floods, but the death occurred last year, according to Matt Robinson, Gallup’s tourism and marketing manager. The misleading story caused people to believe the recent floods caused her death, he said. The recent flooding has not caused any deaths or injuries, according to city officials.

“They’re taking things that happened years ago that are negative, bringing them to light, scaring people, and sharing false information,” Robinson said. “It’s really not a good thing.”

Other misleading or false stories include one July 18 that reported that two women were robbed and beaten at a Walmart. The article goes on to say that the robbery actually occurred March 3, 2020, and Police Chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo told Source NM she does not know where the outlet got its information.

Prism Media, an Israeli-based startup, first publicized its operations in May in a press release decrying the disappearance of local news outlets. Dekel Valtzer, who lists himself as Prism Media’s co-founder and CEO on LinkedIn, did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment.