Be afraid: Israel uses AI to manipulate us

JVL Introduction

Israel is commissioning academics to train IDF soldiers and others to influence public opinion in favour of Israel. This is, presumably part of how the huge increase in Israel’s Hasbara budget (to $730 million up from c. $150 million) is being used. However, they would prefer this be kept under wraps and even for those who win the tender, aspects will be kept secret. “…(T)he tender still imposes strict confidentiality measures separating the civilian lecturers from the trainees. Academic institutions are prohibited from disclosing students’ roles in the intelligence community to instructors and the wider public, and contractors are to receive only trainees’ first names, with no unit affiliation.”

Caitlin Johnstone responded to this article on her blogpost, which M J Rosenberg reposted with the heading: A Terrifying Piece on How Netanyahu’s Israel & AIPAC Can Win. He used this subheading: “And I, who know everything about this stuff, am shocked.” Johnson’s blog on this phenomenon is an important read with the fundamental point that rather than using psyops to hide or “justify” its heinous acts, Israel could just stop doing them.

Among many other important points, she notes: “…Santa Clara University’s Maya Ackerman argued that generative AI presents an exciting new opportunity for imposing pro-Israel narratives on public consciousness, because AI companies can be lobbied directly to push pro-Israel narratives since their leaders can control what information people see. (My emph LL)

Johnstone goes on to say: “(So)…Ackerman is arguing that AI chatbots are useful because instead of “honestly representing what’s in the data” they are saying whatever their owners tell them to say, which means the owners of AI companies can simply be pressured to make the chatbots say pro-Israel things. She is saying this gives “Jewish people” (her words, not mine) an opportunity for “correcting the digital world” (her words, not mine) in a way that is more efficient than “trying to control the whole world” (her words, not mine).”

This article was originally published by +972 Magazine on Thu 4 Jun 2026. Read the original here.