US charity plans AI monitoring of Gaza classrooms for hateful speech

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 9 Oct, 06:49 · Archive

A US charity plans to use artificial intelligence to record and monitor classroom conversations in Gaza for speech it deems hateful or inciting.

Gaza Children Village, a US charity, plans to record classroom conversations and use artificial intelligence to flag speech deemed 'hateful' or 'inciting'. The charity says the approach is intended to ensure teachers adhere to a curriculum it says promotes peace and tolerance.

The plans, laid out by the charity's founder and CEO Dr David Hasan in a webinar last month, have prompted concerns from Palestinian and advocacy groups and at least one of the charity's partners. There is no indication the charity intends to share the recordings with anyone else. However, fears about surveillance technology are heightened in Gaza after three years of war, particularly given that the Israeli military has used AI to sift through intercepted communications to identify targets for strikes.

Dr Hasan, a neurosurgeon born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents who teaches at Duke University medical school in Durham, North Carolina, conceived the charity after volunteering at hospitals in Gaza during the war. Palestinian rights groups have been critical of the charity's education agenda more broadly, saying it is unaccountable to local and United Nations agencies that have long managed Gaza's schools. It is unclear when the monitoring is supposed to begin, what specific language will be flagged, and whether teachers, students and their families have been informed of the plans.

How it is being reported

• A US charity plans to use AI to monitor its Gaza classrooms for 'hateful' speechA U.S. charity in Gaza is worried that teachers at its schools might stray from a curriculum it says promotes peace and tolerance.Clickorlando · 9 Oct, 06:06
• A US charity plans to use AI to monitor its Gaza classrooms for 'hateful' speechA U.S. charity in Gaza is worried that teachers at its schools might stray from a curriculum it says promotes peace and tolerance.News4Jax · 9 Oct, 06:06

In this story: Gaza Children Village · David Hasan · Duke University · Gaza · Israel · Palestine

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