ABOUT COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Community Connections is a lesson collection designed for adult learners and community colleges, with the goal of inspiring student civic action. This might be respectful debate or conversation about a local issue, planning a community event, or a creative project that helps connect local, national and global issues.
To use this lesson: First, watch the video and answer the questions below as a warm up. Next, choose one or more of the activities under "Take Action" that best fits your classroom. Or, use the segment above to inspire your own original classroom activities — the spirit of these lessons is to connect current events to actions that make your community a better place for everyone!
SUMMARY
Quickly after news dropped of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces in January, misleading AI-generated content began racking up millions of views on social media. As technological advancements give anyone the ability to create compelling footage, social media platforms have given those posts a place to rapidly spread, diluting the ability to find trustworthy content. News Hour talks with Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who emphasized that social media platforms aren't the place to search for news unless it’s posted by credible, verified news accounts.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- Who is affected by fake AI images over social media?
- When did the problem of misinformation and disinformation begin, according to Prof. Farid?
- Why are creators and social media companies going through such effort to create fake AI images?
- What guardrails or barriers exist to help the public know what content is fake and what isn't, according to Farid?
- How is using trusted sources the most reliable way to avoid getting fooled by AI, according to Farid?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
- Do you agree with Prof. Hany Farid that social media is not a place to get reliable information? Explain.
- How does fake AI content make the political divisions in our country worse?
- What do you think needs to be done to improve the problem of fake AI content?
Media literacy: How does Farid detect what information is real and what is fake? Without access to such technology, what are strategies to not be tricked by fake AI content?
TAKE ACTION
If you could design an app to help news consumers identify misinformation, how would you do it? What features would it include? Use this activity to plan out your app.
You might also want to use this activity work as a classroom to find reliable news sources. Which use AI to enhance their product? Do you think it adds or detracts from the news to use AI images and content?
As a class, read this Learning for Justice article, "Media Literacy Is Vital for Informed Decision-Making." Be sure to take a look at the SPLC link at the end to see what questions you said "YES" to — though as the authors state, AI technology is changing so fast that such clues may soon prove futile (useless).
"4. Recognize Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated disinformation.
Fake or misleading posts include images as well. You can perform a reverse image search to see where this image has shown up before and if it’s been altered.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can make it easy for individuals to create fake images and videos to mislead people. The Brennan Center for Justice encourages us all to take steps to recognize and resist inauthentic content designed to mislead and influence political views.
You may also want to check out the SPLC’s article 'Tips for Spotting AI-Generated Election Disinformation and Propaganda' recommends a practical series of questions to ask in analyzing digital content. These questions are useful for still images and video content."
This project was funded under the 2024 Leonore Annenberg Civic Mission of the Nation Initiative, sponsored by the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics. LAIC is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
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