Pro-Israel ads funded by its government have been everywhere on the internet since the attacks by Hamas on October 7. This week, pro-Israel AI-generated images have also circulated via Instagram Stories’ “Add Yours” feature that directly respond to the virality of the Rafah image, including one with at least 400,000 Instagram Story shares that reads “Where were your eyes on October 7?” and another with more than 100,000 shares of a march spelling out the phrase “Bring them home now,” a reference to the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas.
Why the uncanny “All eyes on Rafah” image went so viral
In the wake of another deadly attack by Israel, a seemingly AI-generated image has circulated on Instagram Stories.
One assumes, or at least hopes, that most people sharing clearly AI-generated images like these know that what they’re posting isn’t a real photograph, but they’ve gone massively viral for one big reason: They simply look different from the millions of other images we see every day. The swaggy Pope Francis, Balenciaga Harry Potter, and Shrimp Jesus, Kesvani explains, are so compelling because they “can articulate the sorts of fears and fantasies and imaginings of people in ways that explanations and fact-checking are not going to be able to do.”
Regardless of how you feel about AI art, there are questions to ask when the stakes are greater than aesthetics: If an AI-generated image proves more effective at changing hearts and minds in a humanitarian crisis than an actual depiction of reality — or at least encourages more people to speak up about it, even in a small way — what does that say about the future of online activism? More importantly, how do we minimize the chance that AI-generated falsehoods or misleading images replace the crucial reporting and organizing necessary to effect real change? At the very least, it’s likely this won’t be the last AI protest image on your timeline.
Clarification, May 30, 11:45 am ET:A previous version of this story was unclear about the nationality of Gigi and Bella Hadid. They are Palestinian American.