A US “charity” plans to record classroom conversations in the Gaza Strip and use artificial intelligence to flag language it considers anti-Israeli, prompting concerns among Palestinian rights advocates over privacy, academic freedom, and misuse of surveillance technology.

The Associated Press carried the report on Friday concerning the move planned by the so-called “Gaza Children Village.”

Trying to justify the plan, the body said it was intended to help teachers adhere to a curriculum “promoting peace and tolerance” without clarifying either when monitoring will begin, which expressions will trigger “alerts,” or whether teachers, students, and their families had been informed.

The body’s founder and chief executive, Dr. David Hasan, outlined the proposal during a September webinar, saying the AI-powered system would alert him to “potentially problematic language.”

A text message Hasan sent before August, seen by AP, said the technology had been tested and was intended for deployment in dozens of classrooms.

“I know it’s controversial, but trust me, it’s the only way we feel for us to survive and deliver this curriculum,” he said.

Lessons are based largely on the curriculum devised by the Palestinian Authority, with material critical of the Israeli regime removed, he said.

The move has attracted criticism even from within the “charity” and the Palestinian Authority.

Bishara Bahbah, a board member, said he had not been informed of the monitoring plans. “Cameras to monitor the performance of students and teachers is acceptable. But cameras to silence students and teachers from being able to have a free exchange in a classroom are not acceptable,” he said.

An official from another group said the proposal could prompt it to reconsider its relationship with the “charity,” warning that using AI to monitor people's words opens a “Pandora’s box.”

“It is very concerning, they’re trying to control the minds of new generations,” said Ines Abdel Razek, co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, an NGO.

Palestinian Authority official Mohammad AbuAlrob warned that classroom surveillance would cross “an important line.”

The plan has raised particular concerns in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has used AI to analyze intercepted communications and identify targets during its genocide against the territory.

Launching its latest wholesale war on Gaza, the regime brought the impoverished coastal sliver under unrelenting genocide in October 2023, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children.

A ceasefire emerged two years later with the stated aim of ending the genocide.

Recently, the Gaza government media office said Israeli forces had violated the ceasefire 5,147 times since it took effect, killing 1,421 Palestinians and wounding 4,983 others. It also reported 198 detentions or abductions. Gaza’s health ministry separately put the death toll from ceasefire violations at 1,422, with 4,996 injured.