Gaza and the rise of synthetic militarism: On genocide and generative AI

Drawing on the case of the Israeli genocidal assault on Gaza, with attention to how Israelis and their supporters were employing synthetic images as political tools, this essay responds to current academic debates around visual generative AI in political contexts. The essay asks: How is the media landscape of war and political violence being reconfigured by generative AI? What is the political work of AI misinformation charges when they are directed by supporters of a violent state toward its victims? What are the longer colonial histories of such charges? And what are the effects of AI-generated synthetic realism in a context of a genocide? Engaging with and extending the scholarship on visual generative AI, this essay advances the concept of synthetic militarism – militarism by means of synthetic visual content and associated media practices – as a way of understanding of how AI-generated visuals are reshaping mediatized theaters of war and genocide across the globe.

Duke Scholars

Author Rebecca L. Stein Cultural Anthropology