In today’s digital age information spreads faster than ever before; however, not everything that goes viral is actually true. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technological computer system that can perform tasks normally done by humans, like decisions, reasoning or creation. This system has opened the doors for people to create fake images and fake news that are very hard to distinguish from real information. As a result, fake news, misinformation and AI have changed the media landscape and it has created serious challenges.
While it is true that technology has given us the tools to improve and faster our access to important news, some people are using them to mislead others by creating fake news, misinforming audiences and by manipulating public opinion with fake images. This is happening either because they want money or because they want to trick people and gain audiences’ attention. MIT Management Sloan School reported, “falsehoods are 70 percent more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth,” as a result, “news reached 1,500 people about six times faster than the truth.” This is because fake information tends to provoke stronger emotional reactions; therefore people spend longer viewing it or commenting on it, which results in social media algorithms prioritizing that engagement.
Moreover, the University of Florida reports that the scale of the issue with fake news doesn’t mean that we are defenseless, instead they are demonstrating how AI can be used in positive manners. Jieun Shin stated that, “Researchers, tech companies, and governments are collaborating to fight AI-powered misinformation with AI technology.” She explains that it is helping to detect information early in the diffusion stage. Additionally, while experts have been working on decreasing how fast misinformation spreads, media literacy is essential to fight this, as it makes people analyze and evaluate sources they see. A senior at THS certified this statement as she said, “AI can be positive if used responsibly, but without media literacy it becomes dangerous.” After that, her friend Lisseth was asked how fake news affected her, she responded, “I feel like I have learned to identify credible sources now. At first I believed a lot of things that weren’t real and I was used to sharing that because I considered it important, so I am the living example that people do share fake news.”
In conclusion, despite it being clear that AI content has brought consequences to society, it is up to society to make wise choices. Recommendations to fight fake news and AI include following verified news sites, checking the authors credentials and reading if the information is supported with real evidence. For altered images or videos you can look for an unusual number of fingers, deformed hands, clothing and objects distorted and backgrounds appearing blurry, warped or containing illogical elements. Technology will continue evolving and I believe that teaching people how to recognize bias and verify information is essential in this time period, as an informed audience is the strongest defense against misinformation. People should start thinking of this platform as an opportunity to create good things instead of an opportunity to be misleading the world.
