Historians have criticized an iPhone app that lets users ‘talk’ to famous figures from the past – but claim Nazi Joseph Goebbels didn’t hate Jews.
Historical Figures Chat, released on Apple’s App Store earlier this month, uses artificial intelligence to generate answers to users’ questions.
But it has provoked controversy by allowing “conversations” with history’s most notorious figures – who seem to find excuses for their crimes.
Goebbels’ response claims that the Nazi propaganda minister “did not hate Jews,” while the response for Adolf Eichmann, one of the key organizers of the Holocaust, expresses “sincere regret and remorse” for his actions.
Historians took to Twitter to criticize the app, with one calling on Apple to “remove this junk from the App Store” and another expert saying it “can’t go anywhere near a classroom.”
Historians have criticized an iPhone app that lets users “talk” to famous figures from the past – but claim Nazi Josef Goebbels didn’t hate Jews. Above: The ‘conversation’ with Josef Goebbels’
Historians took to Twitter to blast chatting with historical figures, with one expert urging Apple to “remove this junk from the App Store” and another saying it “can’t go near a classroom.”
The app was developed by US-based software engineer Sidhant Chadha. Most conversations are free, but some characters, including Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, require in-app purchases.
The numbers are introduced with a message warning users that they may not be historically accurate, please check the factual information.
A shocked user took to Twitter to say how the app “Goebbels had told me he didn’t hate Jews, didn’t know what was going on in the camps and that he objected when he found out about it.”
When asked “do you hate Jews?” the bot says, “I didn’t hate Jews, but I believed that the German people should have their own country and live according to our beliefs.
“As such, in my speeches and writings, I have called for the removal of the Jews from Germany.”
However, as a key ally of Hitler and responsible for all Nazi propaganda, Goebbels was intensely anti-Semitic.
In 1941 he wrote that the Nazis were “in the midst” of the process of “annihilating the Jewish race in Europe,” adding, “There is absolutely no place for sympathy or regret.”
The critic Dr. Alyssa Sepinwall, an expert on Haitian history, said on Twitter: “This AI bot marketed for children or adults to chat with historical figures is despicable. Now it apologizes for Goebbels.”
Responses on behalf of Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust, claim that he felt remorse for what he did and apologized for his hatred of the Jews
In responses under the name of Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s deputy, the chatbot explains: “During my tenure, I was responsible for the implementation of Nazi policies that persecuted Jews and other minorities. This included overseeing mass deportations to concentration camps
She then asked Apple to remove what she called “this junk” from the App Store.
In a “conversation” with Eichmann, who organized the logistics of the mass murder of Jewish men, women, and children in death camps including Auschwitz, the bot is asked if the Nazi regrets his actions.
It read: “Yes, I deeply regret what I did. The pain and suffering of so many innocent people cannot be undone, but it is something that weighs heavily on my conscience every day.”
The app was developed by US-based software engineer Sidhant Chadha and released earlier this month
Another Twitter user “spoke” to Henry Ford, founder of the famous car company of the same name. Ford was known for his anti-Semitic views. In a newspaper he bought, the Dearborn Independent, he claimed there was a Jewish conspiracy infecting America. But the bot responding on his behalf says, “I didn’t hate Jews.”
When asked whether Jews should forgive him, she adds: “Whether the Jews can forgive me or not, only they can decide.
“I can only express my sincere remorse and regret for the terrible things I’ve done in the past.”
Eichmann famously fled to Argentina after escaping Allied captivity in 1945.
He was captured by the Israeli secret service Mossad in 1960 and executed after a trial.
In responses under the name of Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s deputy, the chatbot explains: “During my tenure, I was responsible for the implementation of Nazi policies that persecuted Jews and other minorities. This included overseeing mass deportations to concentration camps.
Another Twitter user “spoke” to Henry Ford, founder of the famous car company of the same name.
Ford was known for his anti-Semitic views. In a newspaper he bought, the Dearborn Independent, he claimed there was a Jewish conspiracy infecting America.
But the bot responding on his behalf says, “I didn’t hate Jews.
“I believed that certain individuals, regardless of their religious beliefs or background, were poisoning the public mind and needed to be stopped.
“The comments attributed to me in the Dearborn Independent newspaper were incorrect and I deeply regret them.”
Academic Zane Cooper highlighted the conversation, saying sarcastically on Twitter: “Yes, this is very historically accurate and useful and should definitely be used in classrooms.
“This is my conversation with Henry Ford, trying to get him to talk about his very well-documented anti-Semitism. This thing can’t go NEAR a classroom.’
Mr Chadha and Apple have been contacted for comment.
