The use of disease as a weapon of extermination is not new it was a major component of the Nazis systematic slaughter of Jews, Roma, lgbtqia folks and others just as it was used by Americans against native peoples during the cleansing of the country during westward expansion history rhymes

Preserving the validity of the past and recognising the atrocities that were committed at the time is important for its own sake. It’s also important that we don’t accept attempts to rewrite the past to effect our present and future, and GenAI is really big risk to this.

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One moment of doubt of ‘maybe the horrors are being misinterpreted’ can be the start of the slippery slope that leads you into far-right thinking. Which is exactly what the far-right wants!

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and by consequence trying to effect how people perceive present Nazis

It is a way to spread political messaging and shift peoples mindsets into seeing validity in far-right rhetoric.

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All of these aspects together are attempts to argue that actually, concentration camps weren’t as bad as they were made out to be.

And so it aims to impact the way that people perceive the Nazis, trying to downplay their atrocities in the past (and link into Holocaust conspiracy theories)

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As the UNESCO report on AI and the Holocaust recounts, AI can invent facts about the holocaust, falsify historical evidence, spread hate speech and Holocaust denial, and oversimplify history.

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There are generated images of well-fed prisoners in concentration camps; images that sit in stark opposition to the horrific real photos of incredibly emaciated people.

So what does this do? It’s a form of historical revisionism.

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As a historian, I have a lot of issues with fabricating evidence of history, but that isn’t even my biggest concern!

It’s that some of these AI generated images are actually seeking to rewrite the Holocaust.

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Some recreations may have good intentions; they can be attempts to highlight the gravity of the Holocaust. They can be content farming (so less good intentions but still fairly accurate representations).

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Not only does the opposition not want peace, they are actively causing harm on purpose! In that case, it makes sense to act violently to stop it, right?

It frames actions of violence as a way of protection, making people feel threatened and want to be protected from those harms

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A recurring tactic to justify violence is claiming that you’ve tried for peace but it’s those pesky people against you who are refusing to meet in the middle…

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