Ethics of the Algorithm: Digital Humanities and Holocaust Memory

Presner, Todd. Ethics of the Algorithm: Digital Humanities and Holocaust Memory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691258980

Concepts:  Algorithmic ethics | Instrumental reason | Human dignity | Algorithmic visibility/judgment | Humanist AI guidance 

Keywords:  Digital humanities | Holocaust memory | AI ethics | Algorithm | Memory work

Presner argues that algorithms lack ethical agency and must not be entrusted with morally consequential decisions about Holocaust memory. He critiques the legacy of “instrumental reason” that enabled technocratic elements of genocide, warning that computational tools — including algorithms and mass data collections — must acknowledge their historical role in past abuses. He stresses the need for transparency about training data sources and calls for humanists to actively guide the application of AI to ensure authenticity, accuracy, and interpretive freedom. His concept of “close and distant listening” to the Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive is one of the most developed methodological frameworks in the field.

“Algorithms lack ethical agency and must not be entrusted with morally consequential decisions.” (Presner, 2024, cited in Rosenthal, 2025, p. 6109)

“Algorithms are not neutral tools but ‘sociotechnical ensembles’ embedded with human decisions.” (Presner, 2024, cited in Rosenthal, 2025, p. 6120)

“Humanists must actively guide the application of AI to ensure authenticity, accuracy, and digital provenance.” (Presner, 2024, cited in Rosenthal, 2025, p. 6119)