GAZA WARGenerative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and the Israel-Hamas War
Promoters of conspiracy theories and hate are using generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to create misleading content about the Israel-Hamas war. This not only amplifies confusion and hate on social media; it can also cause some to doubt the validity of actual war images, creating unnecessary suspicion at a time of deeply polarized public opinion.
Promoters of conspiracy theories and hate are using generative artificial intelligence (GAI) to create misleading content about the Israel-Hamas war. This not only amplifies confusion and hate on social media; it can also cause some to doubt the validity of actual war images, creating unnecessary suspicion at a time of deeply polarized public opinion. ADL’s previous research includes recommendations on what tech companies should do to address heinous abuses of GAI technology such as those listed below.
Misleading GAI Images
Disinformation peddlers are using GAI technology to tell a fictional story about the conflict. Many of these images have obvious, tell-tale signs of being inauthentic, but can fool the untrained eye and may be difficult to distinguish from the many photos showing actual victims.
On X (formerly Twitter), some GAI images depict what looks like injured or frightened children running from air strikes in Gaza. One post on X includes a series of them with the hashtag #StopIsraelCrimes.
Another image shows a fake AI-generated “tent city,” which users claim was constructed for Israeli refugees. When it first started circulating, the image was popular on X and Instagram, where anti-Israel commenters hoped the camp would be destroyed. Strange artifacts in the image, such as an Israeli flag with two Stars of David on it, hint that the content is inauthentic.
Deepfake videos, which generally require several GAI tools to create, have also gained traction by presenting fictionalized “commentary” on the war from public figures. While these videos are often advertised as deliberately satirical, they can easily be shared without that context, creating further confusion.
For example, a deepfake video of model Bella Hadid, who is publicly critical of Israel, shows her retracting her prior comments about Palestine and expressing support for Israel.
In reality, the video was likely created using synthetic speech, which uses AI to mimic real voices that have been “cloned” from audio samples of authentic speech. The synthetic speech was then mapped onto old footage of Hadid speaking at the Global Lyme Alliance in 2016.
Offensive and Violent GAI Propaganda
Racist and antisemitic Telegram and 4chan users are creating hateful and misleading propaganda about the war using GAI tools.
