The Humanitarian Coalition and Performance Art Turn AI into an Anthem for Ukraine

One year after the war began in Ukraine, the Humanitarian Coalition is prompting the world to remember why Ukraine still needs our support by highlighting the shortcomings of AI-driven technology.

Creative-data agency Performance Art is behind the creative idea born from the fact that ChatGPT’s AI language model was trained exclusively on data older than September 2021 – and thus it knows nothing about the war in Ukraine. But what it does know is everything about the beauty of the country and its people. 

Armed with this insight, the agency created "A Prompt for Ukraine", a 90-second video which depicts a conversation with a ChatGPT-like AI, in which a series of prompts ask the chatbot to describe various details about Ukraine. The jarring responses describe some of Ukraine’s most war-torn locations — like the Irpin Bridge and the city of Mariupol — in a way that makes it clear that the AI has no idea what has happened over the past year. Armed with a powerful message of how war has transformed Ukraine, the video finishes by prompting viewers to donate to the Humanitarian Coalition to be part of making a difference. 

The video is launching across digital and social media platforms supported by the hashtag #APromptForUkraine. 

“One of the world’s most popular AI chatbots is essentially unaware that there’s a major war happening in Ukraine,” says Ian Mackenzie, Chief Creative Officer at Performance Art. “Working with the Humanitarian Coalition, we found a data bias that would normally be seen as a negative and are using it to reactivate a sense of hope that donations can and do still make a difference in the lives of those who are suffering.”

The Humanitarian Coalition brings together 12 leading aid organizations to provide Canadians with a simple and effective way to help during large-scale humanitarian emergencies. If you want to support making a difference in Ukraine, you can donate at www.humanitarian coalition.ca/ukraine-crisis.

Client: Humanitarian Coalition

Executive Director: Richard Morgan

Manager, Communications & Marketing: Marg Buchanan

Agency: Performance Art

Chief Creative Officer: Ian Mackenzie

Group Creative Director: Jess Willis

Creative Director: Benjamin Playford

Senior Copywriter: Jackson Kemp

Senior Designer: Dewen Yang

SVP, Growth: Diane Ridgway-Cross

Post Production: School Editing

Editor: Fi Alvarez

Assistant Editor: David Ngandu

Producer: Steve Villeseche