Humanity’s need for trustworthy information has come full circle.
Across much of the world, people used to turn to libraries. Then everything went digital and cyber. Now, our virtual world is filled with so much realistic fake material that people don’t know what’s real.
Meanwhile, AI tools are ingesting material from news media and assuming it’s true, even though big news agencies lie constantly. These tools are even including Al Jazeera, Qatar’s whitewashed government propaganda. So if you ask an AI tool for information about a news event, it spits out lies.
With the media failing its mission, what can humanity do? There’s a solution: a new role for an old institution. In the latest episode of They Stand Corrected, how libraries can now serve as home bases for truth. Places in the real world that document what’s real and hold onto physical proof.
It’s already happening. More than 6,000 miles from home, I met with a group of women who are doing this for the most lied about day in modern history.
Welcome to a new, amazing building in which these warriors are showing the world — and the media — how it’s done.
‘Bearing witness’
The Bearing Witness project at the National Library of Israel is a monumental challenge: documenting the reality of the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist massacres by Hamas and other Gazans who infiltrated into Israel. These terrorists were proud of their actions, and took their own videos. (Listen to a terrorist’s phone call showing off about killing Jews as his father cries in pride.) Nevertheless, the lies about the attacks began that same day, creating mass confusion worldwide with help from the failed media.
In this episode: how proving reality requires detailed analyses, collecting metadata, documenting provenance, and more. Plus, complex ethical questions: What do you show and not show? When entire families were slaughtered, who decides what’s available to the public? When is there enough “emotional distance” to give more details? You’ll hear sage words from U.S. civil rights pioneer Mamie Till-Mobley.
The library is also documenting Hamas propaganda. How can they be sure people won’t take that as fact? The answer lies in how it’s recorded. (Things have come a long way since the Dewey Decimal System.)
This team is fighting AI lies from the inside. They’re making their archive available to the public anywhere in the world that does not block Israel (a pathetic caveat to have to add). That way, AI and other search tools can “crawl” the material, and at least include reality along with so many media-spewn lies.
“If we aren't at least 95% certain that our information is authentic, we will not record it, Most libraries have a slightly lower threshold, and the library world tends to be around 90 to 93%. But because we know we're dealing with material that others might try to debunk, we hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
That’s Ahava Cohen, the library’s head of cataloguing. She represents Europe on the RDA Steering Committee, which sets guidelines and instructions for creating the metadata for library and cultural heritage sites around the world. And she’s the chair of the Working Group on Artificial Intelligence. In short, she’s a global leader in determining how libraries can serve as trustworthy sources of truth in the AI era.
Any society devoted to truth can do this. Listen to the new episode to learn how.
Learn how the site uses solar panels, low energy lighting, and a “rockstore” for storing thermal energy, via Israel 21C. And check out the robots at work in an oxygen-deprived fireproof zone:
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JL