Exploitive A.I. Slop

I got blocked by a Facebook page called Historic Voices last night because I called it out for its exploitive use of A.I.-generated images to evoke emotional responses and hence create engagement (read: monetization).

I had come across this image—complete with fake dust artifacts—on a friend's Facebook page via my feed...

Exploitive A.I. Slop from Facebook page Historic Voices

...which is accompanied by this text:

The Bread Was Still Warm — Mauthausen, Austria, 1945

As American troops stormed the gates of Mauthausen concentration camp in May 1945, they were met with silence—followed by the slow, trembling steps of starving prisoners emerging from the shadows. Among the supplies brought in was freshly baked bread. One survivor, skeletal and barely able to stand, took a piece into his hands and began to cry. Not because he was starving—though he was—but because the bread was still warm. "I forgot what warmth felt like," he whispered, "in hands or food."

That single moment—one man holding bread like it was life itself—was captured in a haunting photograph and sent home. It became a symbol of both suffering and survival, a reminder that sometimes, hope returns in the smallest of gestures. For many, that warm loaf wasn’t just food—it was the first sign that the nightmare was ending.

The page, of course, is full of these bullshit narratives, many of which—like the example above—suggest that the image is an actual photograph. The intent, of course, is to pull on the heart strings of people for the purpose of engagement, and it is remarkable how many people fall for this exploitive bullshit because... I don't know... they want to show that they're sensitive to Nazi war crimes? As of this writing, the image has over 46,000 reactions, 3800 comments, and 10,000 shares. One such comment:

Thank you for sharing such an incredible story and photo. My husband bakes bread and has found that fresh bread is one of the most emotionally intense experiences.

Another image, albeit this time without dust artifact...

Exploitive A.I. Slop from Facebook page Historic Voices

Note how there are no other human beings in the "photo" which ostensibly was "taken" while "American troops stormed the gates" to liberate the place. It looks like there's a whole lot of storming going on!

The bullshit text:

He Hugged the Fence Goodbye — Dachau, Germany, 1945

A young American soldier named Thomas Ray entered Dachau during its liberation and saw an emaciated man crawling toward the electrified fence. Thinking he was trying to die, Thomas ran to stop him—but the man simply embraced the cold wire and kissed it.

He turned and said, "I waited three years to say goodbye to this cage. Now I leave with my soul." Thomas wrote home that night, "I’ve seen freedom reborn through tears."

Comments:

• Probably lost his entire family 💔
• God bless his soul
• God Bless you 🙏 Both
• I pray he lived a long healthy happy life!

A second Facebook post—with basically the same narrative, but with a different image, and one in which the supposed American soldier, Thomas Ray, looks like a completely different person—popped up on the page as I was writing this.

Exploitive A.I. Slop from Facebook page Historic Voices

The text, modified a bit:

He Hugged the Fence Goodbye — Dachau, Germany, 1945

When American troops entered Dachau, young soldier Thomas Ray saw an emaciated prisoner crawl toward the electrified fence. Fearing the man meant to end his life, Thomas rushed forward—but instead watched him gently embrace the cold wire and kiss it. The man turned and said, "I waited three years to say goodbye to this cage. Now I leave with my soul."

That moment seared itself into Thomas’s memory. He wrote home that night: "I've never seen someone freer than him." In a place built to crush human dignity, a simple farewell to the fence became an act of spiritual liberation—proof that even after unspeakable suffering, the soul could still stand up and walk out.

One more, also with fake dust artifact...

Exploitive A.I. Slop from Facebook page Historic Voices

The bullshit text:

Dachau, Germany, 1945 – The Singing Man

In the last days before liberation, prisoners at Dachau described an older man who sang quietly every night.

He had no family left, no voice left, but still hummed old Yiddish lullabies. One survivor later said, "He sang so the silence wouldn't win."

His name was never known. But survivors say they still remember the tune — and still hum it, softly, when they need to feel human.

Comments:

• A truly wonderful human being! All so tragic!
• Your a hero
• Rest in peace you were certainly a gift from God
• Kept him sane enough each day

I found something interesting when I took a look at the page's About section (click to enlarge).

About page for Facebook's Historic Voices

The page used to be called Floral Fantasies, which is rather curious. I wonder if the page got hacked and was taken over by someone who knew they could boondoggle people with fake historical narratives, or if the Floral Fantasies thing wasn't getting the traffic or engagement originally hoped for or expected.

I honestly don't know how people can be so fucking gullible and malleable. First of all, and I suppose it's because I'm a photographer that I notice such things, but photographs taken in 1945 on the films available at that time, would be grainy as hell, especially if they had been taken with a 35mm camera, which in all likelihood, is what a World War II soldier would have been carrying, if he had a camera at all.

This is not the only group that this person or persons has created to spread the A.I. slop. Another is called Historical Life, and I'm pretty certain I've seen another one out there, one which I might have blocked myself already. I've also seen a number of pages dedicated to spreading false stories about athletes donating millions of dollars to individuals or causes. The posts often feature images of the athletes hugging people who are shedding tears of happiness.

There is no doubt that A.I. is here to stay. I'm certain that I unwittingly use it regularly each day when I open Photoshop. There are so many features within Photoshop that are probably built around the technology that I can't help but use it. That said, I have been avoiding it whenever I can. When I do web searches, for example, I include "-ai" along with the search terms. I'm not positive that that is a cure, but when I've done it, the A.I.-generated summaries disappear, so I assume that the function is skirted. I just searched ways to turn off A.I. in searches, and found this site, which has all kinds of suggestions, many of which are browser-specific.

Getting back to the impetus for this post, though, A.I. is turning Facebook into an even worse hellsite than it was just a couple of years ago, with unnecessary A.I.-generated garbage proliferating faster than I can block the sources. And since the crap is getting shared thousands and thousands of times each day, it's getting harder and harder to not have it sully my feed. How did a site ostensibly designed for people to stay in touch become such a hellscape of bullshit? That's rhetorical, by the way. The answer is that it's run by an evil, malicious prick.

 

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