Dr. Sara Kopelman is a postdoctoral fellow at the DHSS Hub. Her current research, conducted with Prof. Anat Ben-David of the Department of Sociology, Political Science, and Communication, examines practices of memory and commemoration in response to what she terms “algorithmic transgression.” The project focuses on the July 2025 Grok incident, in which X’s chatbot generated antisemitic content, including “Mecha-Hitler” imagery. This singular visual phenomenon raises questions about the boundary between archival photographs and AI-generated content that glorifies evil and inflicts harm. Drawing on computational methods for the large-scale analysis of visual and textual material, together with qualitative traditions from media and memory studies, this research traces the full spectrum of community responses on X. It examines responses ranging from documentation and critique of the algorithmic transgression to the amplification of antisemitic visual culture.
Kopelman completed her PhD in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, under the supervision of Prof. Paul Frosh. Her dissertation explored the social and cultural meanings of the camera-based GIF, with particular attention to the distinctive experience of time and structure of attention it produces. Her research interests include visual culture and digital media, photography theory and AI-generated imagery, commemoration and cultural memory, and the mediation of personal loss and social trauma in contemporary digital culture.