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WhatsApp’s AI shows gun-wielding children when prompted with ‘Palestine’ (feddit.de)

submitted 2 years ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/news@beehaw.org

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Cross-posted from : https://feddit.de/post/5357539

Original link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/02/whatsapps-ai-palestine-kids-gun-gaza-bias-israel

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[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

You shouldn’t get a stereotype (or in this case I suppose propaganda?) when you give a neutral prompt.

What I'm hearing is, "AI art shouldn't reflect reality." If this agent is repeating propaganda, it's propaganda that Palestinian kindergartens have been creating and putting out there on their own:

A West Bank kindergarten [Al-Tofula Kindergarten] has published videos showing children pretending to perform military drills with toy guns, clashing with and killing Israeli soldiers, and holding a mock funeral for a child who is killed and becomes a “martyr.” source

At the graduation ceremony of the Al-Hoda kindergarten in Gaza, pre-schoolers carrying mock guns and rifles simulated Islamic Jihad militants storming an Israeli building on "Al-Quds Street," capturing a child dressed in stereotypical garb as an Orthodox Jew and killing an "Israeli soldier." To the sounds of loud explosions and gunfire, the children, dressed in uniforms of the Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, attacked the building, placing a sign reading "Israel has fallen" in Hebrew and Arabic on the back of the "soldier," who lies prone on the ground, and leaving the stage with their "hostage." source

[–] GunnarRunnar@beehaw.org 10 points 2 years ago

WhatsApp’s AI shows gun-wielding children when prompted with ‘Palestine’

By contrast, prompts for ‘Israeli’ do not generate images of people wielding guns, even in response to a prompt for ‘Israel army’

So what reality is this model reflecting then?

[–] Pips@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If you're going to make that claim, perhaps cite to a source isn't run by former Israeli intelligence that creates a lot of propaganda and has been doing so for decades.

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I don't trust MEMRI translations, but there is no translation needed to understand what is happening in the above footage. I'm interested in any sources that dispute the authenticity of the above, which your link does not. If you provide a credible one I will edit my post accordingly. It seems to me that this is very real.

[–] Pips@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

That's fair. Without getting too in the weeds on the issue, apparently the video is authentic and it's something Israelis do as well, so isn't really telling about either side of the conflict except to note that extremists will use children to push their views anywhere.

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the link. It would be interesting to know how prevalent indoctrination/militarization of youth is in each of these nations. It can be hard to accurately judge magnitude in this conflict, it is so heavily propagandized.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

There is absolutely no amount of data that could convince you otherwise. You’ve made it very clear you’ve made up your mind.

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Maybe try presenting some rather than complaining about what you imagine I'd do, random internet stranger.

[–] Pips@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 years ago

Oh is that why I followed up by saying the video is probably authentic?

[–] kbal@fedia.io 5 points 2 years ago

Somehow I get the feeling that equating "reality" with "propaganda created by kindergartens" is the rhetorical equivalent of dividing by zero.