Since the rise of AI in the world, the changes are more and more visible. We talk about changes in our daily lives, including the ones regarding news and media literacy. One of the most important assets we need to take into consideration is related to the fact that AI can influence in both good/positive ways but also in negative ones.
The neutral Artificial Intelligence: Negative and Positive use of AI
Among the negatives, we can count the deep fake (manipulated videos or photos) are mostly related to politics and current affairs (such as wars, pandemic or elections), in this regard there are dozens of websites created with the support of AI to write articles and to spread information in various languages across the world. A big part of these websites are and remain still anonymous, with the purpose of making ‘money from advertising revenue, while generating content that is not properly verified by a human, and in some cases pushes completely false narratives.’
The combat of fake news using AI
Of course, if we consider the AI as something neutral that we can use in our own interest, we can also use it, then, to create something meaningful and useful. In this way, there are several projects across the world and Europe regarding the combat of fake news using AI, one of them being GoodNews, for spotting the fake news. This project is done by Michael Bronstein, professor at the University of Lugano in Switzerland and at Imperial College London, the UK. He also emphasized on the fact that skills such as critical thinking are more important than technology, in order to combat the fake news: ‘It’s not just about detecting fake news. It’s also a problem of trust and a lack of critical thinking. People are losing trust in traditional media and institutions, and that’s not something that can be mitigated only through technology,’ he said.
Another project to be considered is Fondango, which has the goal in trying, testing and then to validate several AI tools that could be put in use in order to identify disinformation. The project is EU based, launched in 2018 but still in development, and is coordinated by Francesco Saverio Nucci, application research director at Engineering R&D Labs, Italy. The main purpose is, as we can see, to tackle media disinformation, but also to train media professionals in data literacy and in managing data better.
In conclusion, we are aware that AI can create damage in media and news but also it means that if we learn to work with it, we can also create the solutions. However, artificial intelligence is not the only issue when it comes to disinformation, but rather are the skills of critical thinking, analysis and comprehension of information.
‘Fake news is not a mathematical question of algorithms and data, but a very philosophical question of how we deal with the truth.’
Francesco Nucci, Engineering Group, Italy
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Bibliography:
https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/430588-ai-factcheckers-aid-the-battle-against-fake-news
https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/can-artificial-intelligence-help-end-fake-news
https://www.eng.it/en/who-we-are/
https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/05/02/rapid-growth-of-news-sites-using-ai-tools-like-chatgpt-is-driving-the-spread-of-misinforma
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Cover image: Steve Johnson / from Unsplash