Exclusive: Holocaust museum adding Rwandan genocide to AI interactives
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Tutsi survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Kizito Kalima, filming his Interactive Interview developed in collaboration with USC Libraries, USC Digital Repository, and the USC Shoah Foundation. Photo: Courtesy of USC Shoah Foundation.
An Illinois Holocaust museum that uses AI technology to create "interactives" with Holocaust survivors is expanding its offering and including a project with a Tutsi survivor of the Rwandan genocide.
Why it matters: It's the first-ever non-Holocaust interactive interview for the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, Ill., and signals that Holocaust museums are using the technology to bring attention to more recent genocides.
The big picture: The move comes amid rising concern that generative AI can fuel racism by amplifying bias from human-generated content on the internet.
- Elon Musk's AI platform, Grok, for example, has repeatedly used antisemitic language on X.
- Museums, however, are trying to use technology such as AI to create immersive displays aimed at fighting bigotry.
Zoom in: The new interactive interview at the Illinois museum will feature Kizito Kalima, a Tutsi survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the museum will announce Tuesday.
- Starting Aug. 26, visitors will be able to interact with Kalima's testimony and learn more about the 1994 genocide and his harrowing journey.
- The project will be housed at a temporary satellite location in downtown Chicago's River North Neighborhood while the Skokie Museum undergoes major renovations.
How it works: Visitors can ask Kalima a question and a museum staffer will type the question into a chatbox while an image of him on a screen looks back.
- "Then clips are made right based upon the algorithm, and it's keyword-based, similar to Siri," Kelley Szany, the museum's senior VP of education and exhibitions, told Axios.
- Kalima will respond, and if he doesn't know the answer, he will say he wasn't asked the question.
- Szany said Kalima was asked hundreds of questions in a recorded interview for the AI project, so he will likely have an answer to a question on the subject.
Zoom out: The museum also announced new interactive interviews featuring Holocaust survivors Rodi Glass and Marion Deichmann.
- All interviews were developed in collaboration with USC Libraries, USC Digital Repository and the USC Shoah Foundation.
- The interviews will eventually be housed at the renovated Skokie Museum and will be unveiled on a public website later.
Context: The Skokie Museum garnered national attention in 2017 after it unveiled 3-D holograms of actual Holocaust survivors and witnesses who could respond to questions from visitors.
- The exhibit's AI software recognizes key words in a facilitator's question and cues the segments of the survivor video clip that provide the most appropriate response.
- The holograms can answer questions ranging from whether they believe in God to what they think about genocide, Szany said.
- Holocaust educators say the interactive technology is essential as the last generation of Holocaust survivors age, and scholars race to record their stories.
Between the lines: While educators work to save testimony for Holocaust survivors, they are also including more exhibits on more recent genocides and trying to bring attention to ongoing ones.
- Elisha Wiesel, son of the late-Holocaust writer Elie Wiesel, joined forces with international human rights advocates last year to draw attention to the Chinese government's repression of ethnic Uyghurs.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify how the Skokie Museum's 3-D holograms of Holocaust survivors work.
