Irish Examiner view: Nazi photo revelation shows the power of AI and rigorous research

Historian uses open-source journalism, AI, and old-fashioned media to identify murderer in notorious WWII photo

For decades, this photo of a Nazi about to shoot a man in Berdychiv, Ukraine was wrongly captioned 'The last Jew in Vinnitsa' — referring to a town 90km away. Establishing the correct location was a key step towards identifying the murderer. Picture: Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty

So-called artificial intelligence gets a lot of bad publicity, some of it from this publication and much of it deserved. 

However, there are occasional instances where the technology — not necessarily the generative part such as ChatGPT that devours electricity and clean water — can make a significant, positive difference.