"I don't want to sound dramatic but, a few weeks ago, something happened that has completely changed how I view online material. I fell for AI-generated content. For someone who is constantly squabbling with older relatives about how little they question what they see online, this was a profoundly unsettling and humbling experience. And it made me think about how, during this holiday period, we could all use this as an opportunity to approach those conversations with the WhatsApp aunties more sensitively."
"Sadly displaced from Sudan due to war, a permanently online group of women, some direct aunts, some not, but all aunties nonetheless, sit in a control room of sorts in their different cities and send out daily broadcasts that simulate as much as possible the interactions and updates they would have shared had they still been living in the same place. They even have office hours."
"First, it is morning greetings, maybe an embellished picture of Quranic verses or a graphic of flowers, wishing you a good day. Then, the hardcore stuff. Snippets of videos from war zones back home, clipped debates between political antagonists, and sometimes entire YouTube episodes of interviews. After this news shift comes the lighter one (secretly my favourite): TikTok and Instagram reels of Arab celebrities with too much plastic surgery accompanied by scream emojis, footage from family and friend weddings across the world,"
An individual was deceived by AI-generated content, an experience that radically changed their trust in online material and humbled them. The individual connects that experience to a group of displaced Sudanese women who run constant, performative WhatsApp broadcasts that recreate communal life. Their messages begin with morning greetings and Quranic graphics, shift to snippets from war zones and political debates, then to lighter celebrity reels and family wedding footage, and include long voice memos filled with prayers. The broadcasts are frequent, memory-consuming, affectionate, and relentless, suggesting the need for sensitive conversations about online content during holidays.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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