How AI resurrects racist stereotypes and disinformation — and why fact-checking isn’t enough
How AI resurrects racist stereotypes and disinformation — and why fact-checking isn’t enough
Publish Date: 2026-02-22 09:44:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
By any measure, 2025 is the year artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly shifted the way we work, interact with each other and engage with the world at large. It has also made undeniable the enduring reality of racism and the limits of fact-checking in an age of disinformation.
Thanks to algorithmic systems, narratives that tap into deep-seated fears and anxieties travel farther and faster than ever before. They circle the globe before fact-checkers can even flag a problematic post.
In the second half of the year, another technological disruption emerged with OpenAI’s Sora, a lifelike video-generation software. Nothing, seemingly, was immune, including politics.
Sora hit the political landscape with particular vigour during the longest federal government shutdown in United States history. The 43-day impasse generated significant pressure and public controversy, particularly around uncertainty and delays that could affect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Digital blackface and the policing of Black poverty
At the height of the anxiety over the effects of the shutdown on SNAP benefits, which serves roughly 42 million Americans, a slew of short videos of Black women accosting social service employees or unleashing their frustration on livestream audiences caught the attention of the online sphere.
The SNAP suspension was ultimately blocked by the courts. It was also quickly revealed that the circulating clips were AI-generated.
In a fraught digital attention economy, and thanks to algorithmic systems, narratives that tap into deep-seated fears and anxieties travel farther and faster than ever before.
(Unsplash)
What is most striking about these videos is how deliberately the caricature of the “Black welfare queen” was staged. In one video, the speaker declares, “I need SNAP to buy an iPhone.” In another, “I only eat steak, I need my funds.”…
