Kim Malcolm/KUOW
Videos, images, and text created by generative artificial intelligence tools are appearing in elections, sold on Amazon, and even in court documents. Learning how to identify the ever-growing flood of deepfakes, along with online conspiracy theories, is becoming a rite of passage for students.
Earlier this month, about 500 high school students crowded into a cavernous ballroom on the University of Washington's Seattle campus as the annual MisInfo Day event was about to begin.
Isabella and Jasper are sophomores at Ballard High School. (NPR is not using the student's last name because she is under 18.)
Although both consider themselves relatively savvy online, they say it's becoming increasingly difficult to understand what they see online, especially realistic images created by AI tools. I admit it.
“The fact that you can use AI to create images definitely seems problematic,” Jasper says.
“Actually, I'm not that confident,” Isabella said. “I feel like I'm going to love fall in a really stupid way, and I'm going to think, 'Oh, how did I not know this wasn't real?'”
Overcoming exaggeration, spin, and outright lies
Since its inception in 2019, MisInfo Day has grown to become one of the nation's most prominent media literacy events for high school students.
It comes from the University of Washington's popular undergraduate course “Calling Bulls***: Data Reasoning in a Digital World,” co-created by Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom, which provides students with guidance on how to navigate the spread. provided. Exaggerations, fabrications, and outright lies that may pass as fact or evidence online.
High school teachers were looking for something similar to offer their students, and MisInfo Day was born.
Organizers have set up multiple sessions for students to choose from, including understanding TikTok, viral misinformation, and online rumors.
Escape rooms were the most popular. The students divided into small teams and spent 45 minutes investigating whether rumors about K-pop groups that their friends were spreading were true.
Part of the exercise involved looking at a set of images of human faces and determining which were real and which were generated by AI. Some students debated whether the teeth on the face were correct, while one student laughed and said the other face had a “catfish-like profile.” This refers to a scam in which someone uses a created persona featuring an attractive image of another person to attract prey.
Kim Malcolm/KUOW
The first event in 2019 attracted 200 children from four local high schools. After several years of classes being held online during the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 500 students from six local schools attended the Seattle event in person this year.
Hundreds more students will participate in other events held in partnership with Washington State University's two campuses. MisInfo Day organizers say this year their 68 teachers in 10 states and three countries will be able to enroll in his training online in his MisInfo Day library and lead activities in their own classrooms. Now it looks like this.
Educators are trying to fill a huge gap, said Jevin West, associate dean for research at the University of California School of Information and co-founder of the school's Center for Information Providers.
“The motivation for this program was to spend a full day, which may be the only day many students spend on this program. This is one of the more important things we can teach the public. That's what I think.”
Growing demand for media literacy education
Eighteen states have now passed legislation promoting media literacy education, and half of all state legislatures have debated or voted on the topic, according to an annual report from advocacy nonprofit Media Literacy Now. There is.
According to a recent study from Boston University, 72% of adults say misinformation is a concern.But there are partisan divides in attitudes towards media literacy, says BU's Michel Amazine.
Democrats (81%) are more likely than Republicans (66%) to agree that media literacy skills are important. Relatedly, Democrats are more likely than independents and Republicans to believe that media literacy training teaches how to think more critically, rather than what to think.
“It's consistent with the overall pattern: Republicans just have less trust in the media, they feel the media has a liberal bias, and they're less likely to let the media tell them what to think.” That means they're more likely to agree that there is,” Amazeen said. .
Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh has criticized some of the state's efforts to combat election disinformation, but supports efforts like MisInfo Day.
“Well, like many things, media literacy sounds great, and that's great. You can keep it clean and clear and not have an agenda. Risks and challenges is about keeping media literacy free and clear so it doesn't end up being hijacked by people pushing some agenda,” Walsh said.
Back at Misinfo Day, a team of students from Sedro-Woolley High School in north Seattle were the first to solve an escape room.
All award recipients said they felt better prepared to evaluate what they saw online after the session. But students wondered why media literacy education should be limited to teenagers.
“Honestly, I think adults would benefit from that more, because they don't usually think about things like that. We're growing up in a very technological age. So , I know I have to, but some adults are like, “Oh, it doesn't affect me.'' Because I didn’t grow up like that,” said Katie, a member of the winning team.
MisInfo Day is expanding. It plans to offer its first sessions to students in California in May.