Algorithmic Death-World
Published:
How AI is used by Israel in the ongoing control and violence in Palestine is the focus of our next Co-Liberative Computing reading session.
The first paper [1] examines how AI is embedded in a settler-colonial structure and how Israel deploys it under the label of "counterterrorism", a framing in which Palestinians are treated as a suspect population, continuously classified, monitored, and acted upon through data-driven systems. The paper then highlights four key areas: (1) in "violence", AI increases the scale and perceived legitimacy of attacks by automating target identification, turning killing into a fast, data-driven process, (2) in "displacement", control is built into everyday life through surveillance and profiling systems that regulate movement and access, making displacement algorithmically enforced, (3) in "erasure", AI monitors and filters digital content to suppress voices and shape narratives, and (4) in the "economic" domain, these systems are refined through real-world use and later commercialized, making surveillance and control not only politically effective but also economically profitable.
The second paper [2] builds on this by focusing on how AI relies on continuous data extraction and how this reshapes power over an entire population. Using the concept of "necropolitics", the power to decide who lives and who dies, it introduces the idea of an "algorithmic death-world". In this setting, Palestinians are both kept alive and exposed to death in ways that continuously produce data. Their lives are monitored to generate data for targeting, while their deaths produce data that is used to improve future targeting. In other words, this creates a continuous cycle where life generates data for targeting, and death refines it. The paper concludes that this model is not limited to one place and spreads globally, as these technologies are refined, commercialized, and adopted elsewhere.
[1] AI as a Tool for Settler-Colonial Projects: How Israel Employs AI to Intensify Colonial Dominance Under the Pretext of Counterterrorism, Ihab Maharmeh, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2025
[2] Algorithmic Death-World: Artificial Intelligence and the Case of Palestine, Sarah Fathallah, Public Humanities, 2026
The first paper [1] examines how AI is embedded in a settler-colonial structure and how Israel deploys it under the label of "counterterrorism", a framing in which Palestinians are treated as a suspect population, continuously classified, monitored, and acted upon through data-driven systems. The paper then highlights four key areas: (1) in "violence", AI increases the scale and perceived legitimacy of attacks by automating target identification, turning killing into a fast, data-driven process, (2) in "displacement", control is built into everyday life through surveillance and profiling systems that regulate movement and access, making displacement algorithmically enforced, (3) in "erasure", AI monitors and filters digital content to suppress voices and shape narratives, and (4) in the "economic" domain, these systems are refined through real-world use and later commercialized, making surveillance and control not only politically effective but also economically profitable.
The second paper [2] builds on this by focusing on how AI relies on continuous data extraction and how this reshapes power over an entire population. Using the concept of "necropolitics", the power to decide who lives and who dies, it introduces the idea of an "algorithmic death-world". In this setting, Palestinians are both kept alive and exposed to death in ways that continuously produce data. Their lives are monitored to generate data for targeting, while their deaths produce data that is used to improve future targeting. In other words, this creates a continuous cycle where life generates data for targeting, and death refines it. The paper concludes that this model is not limited to one place and spreads globally, as these technologies are refined, commercialized, and adopted elsewhere.
[1] AI as a Tool for Settler-Colonial Projects: How Israel Employs AI to Intensify Colonial Dominance Under the Pretext of Counterterrorism, Ihab Maharmeh, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2025
[2] Algorithmic Death-World: Artificial Intelligence and the Case of Palestine, Sarah Fathallah, Public Humanities, 2026