Crichton, F., & Torres, G. (2026). Re-generating hate. Platforms & Society, 3, 29768624261449726.

Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/29768624261449726

Notes: In this short paper, Crichton and Torres present an experimental approach to assess biases in AI-generated images, focusing on how they amplify hate. They argue that far-right ideologies are embedded in GenAI, noting that this technology not only enables “the rapid production and viral dissemination of increasingly sophisticated extremist narratives, but also regurgitating and entrenching inscribed normative biases, culminating in the incapacity to recognize and mitigate hate” (p. 1). To explore this, they follow a simple remediation cycle: from a GenAI image, they create an automated textual description of the scene, which in turn generates another AI image. Their results show that, on the one hand, images are sanitized of explicit representations of hate and, on the other hand, they embed the images with aesthetics that draw directly from far-right nostalgia-driven narratives. Here, they conclude that GenAI “power resides in their ability to crystallize and amplify conspiracy theories, to render abstract hatred in visceral, shareable forms, powered by your commercial model of choice” (p. 6)