The United Nations' cultural organization UNESCO has warned against Holocaust denial and falsification of history generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
In a report jointly published on Tuesday with the World Jewish Congress, UNESCO says the historical account of the Holocaust could be distorted and anti-Semitism fuelled if ethical principles for the use of artificial intelligence are not enforced internationally.
Generative AI - such as that used by the chatbot ChatGPT - is based on data from the internet, which also contains misleading content and human bias. This could misrepresent information about certain events and reinforce prejudices, the report says.
Due to a lack of monitoring and moderation by AI developers, generative AI tools could also be trained on the basis of data from Holocaust denial websites.
In addition, AI enables malicious actors to falsify content such as witness testimonies and historical records of the Holocaust. Fake images and audio content created with generative AI are particularly convincing for young people who may encounter them on social media platforms.
Generative AI models also tend to invent events and even historical phenomena if they do not have access to sufficient data.
"If we allow the horrific facts of the Holocaust to be diluted, distorted or falsified through the irresponsible use of AI, we risk the explosive spread of anti-Aemitism and the gradual diminution of our understanding about the causes and consequences of these atrocities," said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
The implementation of UNESCO's recommendations on the ethics of artificial intelligence is urgently needed so that "younger generations grow up with facts and not fabrications," she said.