(JEWISH GROUP) Jews are the canary in the AI coalmine
ֿIn early February, I traveled to Helsinki for the annual conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE was founded as part of the Helsinki Accords in 1975, at the height of the Cold War, to serve as a bridge between East and West, “from Vladivostok to Vancouver,” and is now one of the main settings for the fight against xenophobia and antisemitism. I was invited to the conference to speak about digital antisemitism, and indeed, however clichéd the metaphor may sound, it is true that Jews have always been the canary in the coalmine throughout history – an early warning sign of deep fissures in the global order.
Social media platforms are the key purveyor of digital antisemitism. Their business models and their systemic failures in monitoring content have made them into unfettered factories of hate. I call this “feature-based antisemitism,” as the features and design of such platforms make the spread of antisemitism inevitable. Algorithms that were developed in order to maximize engagement at any cost prefer rage over truth and extremism over nuance. TikTok’s “For You” page, YouTube’s recommendation engine, and the Feed on Facebook and Instagram don’t just present antisemitic content, they promote it. It’s sufficient in this context to reference Jackson Hinkle, with his millions of followers, or Kanye West, who has become the leading neo-Nazi of our times.
Furthermore, the platforms’ content-monitoring systems (such as they are) treat antisemitism differently from other forms of hate expression. For example, if a user posts “All Africans are stupid,” this comment will, correctly, be flagged as incitement and removed from the platform, but if someone writes that “Jews control global finance,” this will be considered an acceptable expression, in that in its literal sense, it does not humiliate Jews but rather accentuates their power. In addition, we all know by now that viral content on social media is no longer happening organically, and various actors manipulate the algorithms to promote content in an inauthentic and planned manner. The astonishing rise in antisemitic narratives since October 7 is no coincidence. Unseen hands are at work, surrounding Jews throughout the world with a “ring of fire” of disinformation.
However, if social media platforms heighten antisemitism, artificial intelligence automates it. We are only beginning to understand the extent of the hyper-impact of AI, as an empathetic tool able to engage in personally tailored persuasion, but we do know this: AI systems are already gaining the ability to erase the Holocaust from historical narratives or to rewrite key historical events such as the establishment of the State of Israel, to reinforce antisemitic stereotypes, and to generate digital images of Jews with exaggerated facial features.
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The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
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