IN May of last year, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum warned publicly about a Facebook account using generative AI to create fake images of people who died in the Holocaust, noting that some images used real names, birthplaces and deportation histories that the museum had previously shared. The piece explains that these AI-generated images were often digital inventions that risk turning remembrance into fictionalised performance and distorting the historical record.
A BBC investigation found an international network of Facebook accounts posting such AI-generated images to monetise their virality, with accounts able to earn about $1,000 a month for posts that attract clicks, including images purporting to be from inside Auschwitz.
The article notes that the German government and several Holocaust memorial institutions later signed an open letter calling for better controls and restrictions on AI-generated Holocaust imagery, a plea echoed by the signatories’ warning about the high economic incentive to distort history.
It also previews a Lock and Code podcast with Clara Mansfeld, who discusses digital access to history and the threats posed when it becomes harder to evaluate what is real, urging society to consider what AI means for the truth.