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Why We Shouldn’t Be Surprised about #AI #Auschwitz, and What We Can Do About It

By Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden Last week the BBC reported on spammers sharing ‘AI slop’ images of Auschwitz for profit. In this week’s blog, we respond to their article, reflecting on our years of research into Holocaust memory and AI. On Friday 29th August, the BBC published an article with the headline: ‘BBC reveals web of spammers profiting from AI Holocaust images.’ Whilst this might seem shocking, it shouldn’t be, and far from ‘spamming’, which can be considered a flippant action, the individuals involved in these profit-making schemes are using social media in conscious and sophisticated ways – as its logics intend it to be used. This should make us stop and ask: are platforms like Facebook good for Holocaust memory? On one hand, it would be easy (especially in the current political climate) to say, ‘not really’. On the other hand, if Holocaust museums and educational organisations want their authority to remain recognised widely, they need to be not only be present on these sites but enhance their visibility. As our previous research has argued (Walden 2021), professional Holocaust organisations need to adopt the strategies of apparent ‘bad actors’ if they want their messages to circulate as much as [...]

By |2025-09-02T13:32:24+01:002 September 2025|
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Digital Holocaust Memory – Resources and Readings

Over the summer, the Landecker Digital Memory Lab team members are busy taking well-deserved breaks. Whilst our blog goes on hiatus, here are some suggested reads from our back catalogue which might help inspire or inform your autumn teaching, research and practice. The remit of the Landecker Digital Memory Lab is broad – we conceptualise ‘the digital’ as socio-technical and thus connective, and as an entanglement of human and computational actancies. But what does this mean in practice? Firstly, it means our research covers a range of different digital media, this includes computer games. Last year we hosted an international junior research associate, Austin Xie, from the University of Chicago who thought through the challenges of navigating Holocaust memory in computer games shared in two blogs on our site, part I and part II. We also launched recommendations for using VR, XR and computer games. We captured more on these topics in our blog archive, check out pieces on Playing Memories,  Reading Call of Duty, and student ideas for Holocaust computer games. The first series of our new Digital Memory Dialogues also focuses on this topic asking to what extent can the Holocaust be made playable in computer games? This [...]

By |2025-08-28T13:23:52+01:0014 August 2025|
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How Can We Ensure A Sustainable Future for Digital Holocaust Memory?

  In a new working paper published by the United Nations, our Director Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden highlights key interventions needed from policymakers and funders to help shape digital Holocaust memory at a global scale.   As our research has evidenced, there is a huge amount of ‘digital imagination’ in the Holocaust heritage and education sector, but this is rarely matched with the necessary infrastructure to support the creation of digital projects and their long-term maintenance. Furthermore, professionals often feel like they are reinventing the wheel, when colleagues elsewhere have already learnt the lessons, which they find themselves facing with each new digital venture. During our research, we have encountered many defunct apps, alongside old hardware that could no longer allow updates to programs, unstable data connectivity, missing content, bugs and other problems. 'Sustainability Crisis' A new working paper, published by the United Nations, describes this as a ‘sustainability crisis’. Its findings were informed by a workshop we held with policymakers, funders and transnational stakeholders in June 2024 in response to our recommendation reports. The workshop was held together with The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, in the United Nations Department of Global Communications. ‘Sustainable Digital Futures for [...]

By |2025-04-30T10:03:07+01:0028 April 2025|
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Imagining Human-AI Memory Symbiosis

By Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, Director, Landecker Digital Memory Lab The editors of a recent journal special issue asked, ‘Is AI the Future of Collective Memory?’. Our Director and co-author Mykola Makhortykh were invited to answer this poignant question.   The Problem of Anthropomorphism At the heart of our contribution to the special issue was an interrogation of the problem of anthropomorphism of AI. That is – the problem of describing AI using terms related to human activity to the extent that we tend to think about it as like us or even potentially better at doing human things than us. In the tech industry and in academic fields concerned with AI development, the narrative of artificial general intelligence (or ‘super’ intelligence) based on but one day superseding human cognitive capabilities served as a useful myth through which to market models and to attract vast levels of funding. This challenge has not simply come from critical thinkers in the humanities and sceptics, but from AI pioneers themselves, notably Nils Nilsson and Jaron Lanier. We took the question posed to us by the special issue’s editors Frédéric Clavert and Sarah Gensburger: ‘Is AI the Future of Collective Memory?’ and spun it [...]

By |2025-04-03T09:46:39+01:003 April 2025|
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Behind the Scenes at the Lab: What’s in the Works?

It’s been an extremely busy start to the year at the Lab. Find out what we’ve been up to behind the scenes as we approach an exciting new phase of our programme. We kicked off 2025 by welcoming a new member of the team. Research Fellow Dr Ben Pelling has an academic background in History and his previous postdoctoral role focused on the impact of digitisation on conspiracy theories across Europe. Last month, he presented some work in progress related to our living database archive at the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab's Research Forum alongside some fascinating projects, including one about AI in music. Welcome Ben. We are very happy that you have joined the team. Holocaust Memorial Day Early February saw an excellent Holocaust Memorial Day programme hosted by University of Sussex, the first university in England to commemorate this annual event. Our Director Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden took part in a discussion and Q&A with founder and president of the UK Jewish Film Festival Judy Ironside MBE focused on the screening of Letter to a Pig. The short film is an Oscar-nominated animation Letter to a Pig (watch the 'making of'), which explores a young girl's dream after listening to [...]

By |2025-08-01T09:59:04+01:0013 March 2025|
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The View From: Visiting Researchers

Last term, the Landecker Digital Memory Lab welcomed visiting researchers from University of Bern, Dr Mykola Makhortykh and Maryna Sydorova who specialise in humanities and data science with a particular interest in machine learning and AI. Find out about the productive knowledge exchange that took place. by Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, in conversation with Dr Mykola Makhortykh and Maryna Sydorova   Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden: So, Mykola and Maryna, what did you do during your time with us at the University of Sussex? Dr Mykola Makhortykh: We did a lot in two weeks. We agreed to do a symposium on the use of AI for producing historical knowledge and possible considerations regarding it, and a guest lecture about some of our ongoing projects on the use of AI for (mis)representing modern armed conflicts. We also brainstormed future collaborations with the Lab team and possible funding applications. The Lab’s director Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden prepared a schedule of daily to-dos, so we got our fellowship period planned in lots of detail. For me, it worked really well and I think we had an incredibly productive time both in terms of networking with Lab members and other Sussex scholars. We got a [...]

By |2025-02-13T11:04:53+00:0013 February 2025|
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10 key implications for AI in Holocaust memory and education

by Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden Our Lab Director has recently been engaging with delegates of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance about AI and Holocaust memory, tackling topics including mass digitisation of archival and historical material and the risks of distortion and disinformation. In this week’s blog she discusses what emerged from recent events organised by the IHRA, including our new policy briefing. I have had the pleasure to engage with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (the IHRA) on two occasions in the last few weeks because under their UK Presidency in 2024, it has decided to focus on the significance of AI for Holocaust memory and education. Firstly, I spoke at an online AI workshop with approximately 70 people, organised by the IHRA's Education Working Group. Then, this past weekend, I presented the opening paper at the conference ‘AI in the Holocaust Education, Research and Remembrance Sector’ at Lancaster House, London. My role at these events was really to set the scene for those who are policymakers and Holocaust education and history experts, but less savvy about emerging digital technologies. At the core of my presentations was the question: what are the implications of AI for Holocaust memory and education in [...]

By |2024-12-05T17:16:20+00:005 December 2024|
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AI, Holocaust Distortion and Education

By Prof Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden At a conference in Bucharest last week, our Lab Director Prof Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden presented our position on the extent to which we should be engaging with AI for the sake of Holocaust education. I was invited by the US State Department to contribute to a panel called ‘Holocaust Denial and Distortion – New Challenges’, which focused on AI. I wanted to use the opportunity to emphasise the need for more research-informed engagement in how the Holocaust museum and education sector, and policymakers, deal with AI (and indeed digital media more generally). I was joined on the panel by Historian Jason Steinhauer, Professor of International Law Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias, and Jordana Cutler from Meta, and it was chaired by Ellen Germain, US Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues (all pictured in our banner image). Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden speaking on the panel. Key takeaways are: What are we using AI for? We need to ask ourselves why we want to engage with AI? The question should not simply be ‘what is AI good for in the context of Holocaust memory and education?’ but rather ‘What do we want to achieve in Holocaust memory and education, and [...]

By |2024-11-11T14:38:17+00:007 November 2024|
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Three Phases of Digital Holocaust Memory Development

By Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden Through artificial intelligence, machine learning, crowdsourcing, digitisation, VR, AR and computer games, we take you on a tour of some of the world’s most prolific digital Holocaust memory initiatives by way of the theory of the ‘three stages’ of development. To argue that there are three phases of digital Holocaust memory development is not to suggest a clear and simple historical chronology from the 1990s – when digital technologies were first introduced into this arena – to now. Rather, this proposition offers a framework for mapping the different types of approaches organisations take when adopting digital media for the sake of Holocaust memory. These three phases are: the experimental, the normative, and the connective, and they define the different relationships organisations have with digital technology and cultures through their work. Let’s take a closer look at each of them. Experimental Phase This phase acknowledges periods of enthusiasm for a new medium, often led by a ‘what if?’ curiosity among a handful of digital advocates or a desire to shake up the status quo. During this phase, creators are explorative and playful with a medium’s possibilities, they’re not afraid to take risks and can be inquisitive [...]

By |2024-11-11T14:29:45+00:0023 October 2024|
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AI and the Future of Holocaust Memory

by Prof Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, in conversation with Dr Mykola Makhortykh and Maryna Sydorova In November, Mykola Makhortykh and Maryna Sydorova from the University of Bern will join the Landecker Digital Memory Lab as visiting researchers. In this interview, our Director, Dr Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden discusses a core focus of their research with them: AI and Holocaust memory. Dr Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden: We're really looking forward to hosting you here in the autumn semester. Mykola, we have of course worked closely together on a number of ventures over the past few years. Your and Maryna's research explores the significance of algorithm organisation of memory culture online. What first inspired you to recognise the significance of algorithms more broadly, and AI more specifically, in relation to Holocaust memory? Mykola Makhortykh: Like it often happens in the creative process, my inspiration for studying the significance of algorithms and AI for Holocaust memory originates in frustration. Back in the day, when I was doing my PhD on the platformisation of Second World War memory in Ukraine, I relied primarily on qualitative methods. However, at some point, it became obvious that I had more data than I could realistically process qualitatively. I [...]

By |2024-11-28T11:16:34+00:0011 September 2024|
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Landecker Digital Memory Lab
University of Sussex
Falmer Campus
Brighton and Hove
East Sussex
BN1 9RH
LandeckerDigitalMemoryLab@sussex.ac.uk

Contact

Landecker Digital Memory Lab
University of Sussex
Falmer Campus
Brighton and Hove
East Sussex
BN1 9RH
LandeckerDigitalMemoryLab@sussex.ac.uk

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