Announcing: Pal Chat
“Pal Chat was created to combat organized misinformation”. That’s how Tarik, the founder of Pal Chat described it to us, and we cannot describe it any better.
For decades now, but especially after October 7th 2023, the western media has been blatantly biased against Palestine. From the hoax of Hamas beheading babies, to a myriad of stories perpetuated by Israel and later found to be false, to the persistent dehumanization of Palestinians, to blatant censorship by the western media – all have not only been complicit in enabling the ongoing genocide, but also have made the truth more difficult to access.
Israel’s Hasbara (calculated global PR to legitimize Israel’s apartheid) has worked quite hard to spread misinformation around the world. From local churches, schools, and communities, to global media and governments, Israel’s influence through Hasbara has been immense. This has led to, what the founder of Pal Chat calls “organized misinformation”.
In a war where misinformation has been used systemically to influence how common people like us view the apartheid, how do you empower people to speak the truth? By providing the truth in an unfiltered and uncensored manner, backed by credible sources of both the historical context and the current news.
It is an AI chatbot that is designed to give you honest, factual answers to questions about Palestine. It is like ChatGPT, except you can trust Pal Chat to provide accurate information about history, international and humanitarian law regarding Palestine, as well as the latest news on Israel's occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people.
Pal Chat was built with the support of intrepid volunteers in Tech for Palestine and is part of the Tech for Palestine incubator.
How did Pal Chat come into existence?
For Tarik, seeing Gaza reminded him of the genocide in his homeland Bosnia in the 90s, committed to ethnically cleanse parts of Bosnia from Bosniaks and non-Serbs, and create an ethno-state they named “Republic of the Serbs”. .
Wikipedia says – “The ethnic cleansing campaign included extermination, unlawful confinement, genocidal rape, sexual assault, torture, plunder and destruction of private and public property, and inhumane treatment of civilians; the targeting of political leaders, intellectuals, and professionals; the unlawful deportation and transfer of civilians; the unlawful shelling of civilians; the unlawful appropriation and plunder of real and personal property; the destruction of homes and businesses; and the destruction of places of worship.”
Perpetrators of genocide, in Bosnia, in Palestine, and everywhere, follow the same playbook in how they carry it out and especially how they talk about it. It is the same strange mix of incitement and justification for the genocide on the one hand, and denial that it is being done on the other. Pervasive, multi layered, and coordinated mass misinformation.
Tarik saw the same patterns in the genocide of Palestinians, and could “almost predict what the next piece of propaganda would be”.
During the three year siege of Sarajevo, the Serb army killed civilians daily by shelling and snipers, killing thousands. Twice they managed big hits, killing 68 and 47 people waiting to get food. Tarik's friend's dad lost both legs in the first of those two massacres. Because those made the news around the world, the Serbs denied them. Their leader, Radovan Karadzic, concocted a story by which Bosnians somehow did it to their own people. The exact parallel is Al-Ahli hospital. IDF leveling buildings day in and day out, bombing every hospital, but that biggest early mass casualty event was somehow “Palestinians' own fault”. The good news in case of Bosnia is that Karadzic is serving a life sentence for genocide, and in his trial it was proven that his forces did indeed commit those massacres. It will take a lot of effort to get to that stage for Palestine.
That’s why he decided to provide a source of truthful information and a tool empowers people to voice their protest against Israel’s ongoing genocide.
But why do we need another AI chatbot? I can just ask ChatGPT to provide me with the same information.
Yes, you can. But you will not get the unfiltered truth.
We asked both ChatGPT and Pal Chat a host of questions regarding Israel and its occupation of Palestine. The language used to communicate the same information was strikingly different and concerning in the case of ChatGPT.
Since ChatGPT, by its very nature, draws information and its assessment from the open Internet, it is bound to speak the same language that western media and Hasbara have been speaking for decades.
Here’s an example. When we asked ChatGPT is Israel is committing genocide, it gave a long-winded, wishy-washy answer, without confirming the same.
It gave it’s assessment as follows:
Whereas, when asked Pal Chat the same question, this was the response:
Clear, concise, and true. Pal Chat also provides references to each of its claims, making it a credible source of information, rather than opinions that can be used to justify Israel’s apartheid.
How can I trust the information of Pal Chat over other sources?
Any output by AI is only as good as its input data. If the input data has decades of misinformation and propaganda, the output will not be fair and accurate information. That’s the issue with what you read on ChatGPT.
With Pal Chat, the input data is devoid of propaganda. It uses primarily two sources:
- Historical sources: These include books about Israel’s occupation, the history of Jerusalem, the Nakba, and incidents recorded over the years. They also include reports by the UN as well as independent organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. This sets the context with accurate information accumulated over the years.
- Current news: These include news of the current situation from independent and unbiased sources.
By ensuring that the input data is free of misinformation, Pal Chat has ensured that the information you get is direct and fact-based.
Let Pal Chat help you learn history, understand principles and gather facts – simply ask it questions or converse with it. And let it help you take action.
Whether you are a student, activist, journalist, or simply someone looking for the truth, Pal Chat provides a reliable, accessible resource.
Go to https://pal-chat.net and take the first step toward uncovering the truth. You can also follow Pal Chat and its updates on Instagram.
Note: The current version of Pal Chat is a pilot, and the team is working constantly to ensure that you receive the most accurate information of Palestine. Please use the platform and send your feedback to palestine.chatbot@gmail.com. It will help us improve the platform and continue speaking power to the truth.