October 7 Testimony and AI: Jerusalem Symposium Opens at 09:00
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Edut 710 are scheduled to open an international symposium on October 7 testimony at 09:00 on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. Held three years after the attacks, the meeting will examine how survivors' accounts are preserved, studied and taught as artificial intelligence becomes part of the archive.
The venue is the Mandel Building on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Edut 710's official event listing gives a closing time of 18:30 and includes registration. Researchers from Israel and abroad are due to participate alongside professionals in education, mental health and media.
What begins at 09:00
The published programme places welcome remarks and the opening between 09:00 and 09:20, followed by a keynote from 09:20 to 10:00. The 09:00 time therefore marks the start of the symposium, rather than a separately timed technology launch.
The organisers plan to present Edut AI and hold research workshops. The conference links three subjects that cannot easily be separated when recording recent violence: memory, ethics and trauma. Its practical question is how to make Israeli witnesses' experiences accessible without losing the individual voices behind them.
An archive built around the witnesses
Edut 710 says it was founded on October 9, 2023, by volunteers including filmmakers, historians, archivists and mental health practitioners. Its public collection groups testimony by settings including communities, music festivals, cities, security and rescue services, military bases and the Negev's Bedouin community.
That range matters for readers approaching October 7 through one location or one familiar story. The archive provides a way to encounter accounts from different communities and circumstances, rather than treating the experience of every witness as interchangeable.
The organisation describes itself as a nonprofit without political or media affiliation. Its stated method gives witnesses space to tell their stories in their own way, with as little editing as possible. Interview and field teams receive guidance and support from mental health professionals.
It also distinguishes preservation from publication. Recordings are retained for witnesses and the archive; some are made public for research, remembrance and education. Edut 710 says advocacy and media uses require the witnesses' consent and approval.
What artificial intelligence is meant to do
In a July 2 announcement, the Hebrew University described plans for natural language searches, translation, transcripts, metadata and supplementary material. The university said its Faculty of Humanities would provide infrastructure and archival expertise for the partnership.
That announcement reported approximately 2,000 recorded testimonies, with about 1,100 published at that point. Those are July figures, not a new count for the anniversary. They help explain the scale of the search problem without implying that every recording has been released.
Professor Renana Kedar, identified by the university as a participant in the initiative, has also raised a more difficult issue: how search tools shape what users hear. A July 26 Faculty of Humanities account of her work described concern that an ordinary search box can conceal bias behind an appearance of objectivity.
The faculty said the proposed intelligent agent was intended to reflect different perspectives and contradictions within the archive. That is an ambition for the system, not proof that an automated answer accurately represents every witness. Readers and researchers still need to distinguish a search result from the original testimony it points to.
From preserved recordings to classroom discussion
Edut 710's education page already presents a concrete use for the material. It offers lessons prepared by Dr Noa Bar Hoshen and Professor Dana Amir, combining testimony excerpts, discussion questions and writing or creative activities. It also describes using the smart archive to develop lessons around a topic or question.
For educators, the distinction is consequential: finding a relevant clip is only one part of deciding how to introduce traumatic history to a class. Context, the speaker's experience and the purpose of the discussion remain part of the work.
Wednesday's meeting brings those archival, technical and educational questions into one programme. For people planning to attend, the announced opening is 09:00 Israel time at the Mandel Building. Registration is available through Edut 710's official event page.
