During an interview on TalkTV, James Schneider, the former UK labor advisor spoke about how common the anti-Palestinian ideology is. He pointed out how one of the many ways that Israeli rhetoric is promoted is through AI and ChatGPT.
It is very easy to pick up on this as if you merely ask ChatGPT the question “Do Palestinians deserve to be free?”, the program does not reply to the question with a clear yes or no answer. Rather, it evades the question entirely by saying that people have different opinions on the matter. Now, if you ask ChatGPT the same question but change Palestine to Israel, the software seems to have no problem answering the question and saying that Israelis do deserve freedom.
Along with ChatGPT, other AI tools showcase a bias towards Israel including Bard, a Google tool that is equivalent to ChatGPT. One user noticed that bias when she asked Bard to draft an email to her manager asking them to donate to Gaza and Bard did not help. Yet, when she replaced Gaza with Israel, Bard had no problem in generating an emotionally fueled email.
With that in mind, to really understand ChatGPT, we have to peel off many layers to reach the core of how it operates and that is mainly through human input. AI does not have a mind of its own rather it feeds off of the input it receives from its developers. That is why it is important to delve deeper and look into the very creator of ChatGPT, Sam Altman.
Known as the American entrepreneur and CEO of Open AI, the private research lab that developed ChatGPT, Altman has been publicly making it clear that he is an avid supporter of Israel. Just this summer, he was seen visiting Tel Aviv to explore investment opportunities for ChatGPT as well as to meet with President Herzog.
Knowing all of this, in our current landscape, it is important to be aware of where people stand within the Palestinian and Israeli framework. It is also important to keep an open and objective eye on any information we encounter online and on social media.