Hello AoIR people, I would like to extend an invitation for the talk “Ideologized GenAI, Palestinian Activism, and the Synthetic Realism of War” given by Tom Divon online on June 18. The event is organized by the Experimental Laboratory (an)archaeologies of the Sensible (LabEAS) of the Federal University of Bahia (Brasil) and will be held on our YouTube channel. The talk will be delivered in English, but will also be available with Portuguese subtitles in the future. This event is part of the research project “Experimental Laboratory (An)archaeologies of the Sensible: methodological research for film and audiovisual studies based on Artificial Intelligence” (2025-2027), funded by Brasil's national research council (CNPq).

When: june 18th
At: 9am (GMT-3, check out when it is in your time here!)
Link: https://youtube.com/live/6T6GRhKZ_z0

Ideologized GenAI, Palestinian Activism, and the Synthetic Realism of War
Creativity with generative AI is becoming central to how Palestinian activists document and disseminate the realities of war zones. From simulating bombed-out neighborhoods to visualizing absence and loss, GenAI is used to test when cameras cannot and when platform governance denies visibility. In these moments, where the image is generated rather than captured, synthetic realism becomes a necessary strategy of witnessing, and a vulnerable one. This tension raises difficult questions: what counts as evidence, and what makes resistance credible? My talk reflects on a trajectory often overlooked: how creativity under siege is not only expressive but also evidentiary. Drawing on my fieldwork with Palestinian activists, I trace the blurred lines between synthetic testimony, algorithmic suppression, and the enduring suspicion shaped by “Pallywood” accusations that brand Palestinian visuals as staged by default. Through these dynamics, it examines how truth becomes both precarious and manufactured, and how GenAI functions as an affordance for visibility, credibility, and grief in the ongoing war.

Tom Divon is an ethnographer of user-platform interactions, focusing on creator culture, platform functionalities, and user-generated content. His research examines the sociopolitical subcultures of platforms like TikTok and Instagram, emphasizing the intersecting domains: Palestinian, Israeli, and Jewish content creators; platform governance and content moderation; and the role of play and trauma in activism in war zones. Furthermore, Divon's work explores how artificial intelligence is mythologized, exploited, and weaponized against activists in digital cultures.

No registration required. Certificates will be awarded to those who participate and fill out the attendance list that will be available at the time of the lecture.

Check out the talks that were already hosted on our channel here(in portuguese): "AI and unfilmed scripts," by Pablo Gonçalo, and "Dreaming images that don't exist," by Rafael de Almeida.