Sorting out artificial facts: practical AI reading tips

A laughing woman with blue streaks in dark hair wearing a red blazer

We have entered a new age of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, including chatty text-based ‘bots, voice spoofs and even videos using real people's likenesses.

As Assoc. Prof. Jaigris Hodson, Canada Research Chair, Digital Communication for the Public Interest, writes in The Conversation, that means that convincing disinformation can be quickly created and shared across various platforms. She writes:

“To date, a focus of teaching critical media literacy both at the public school and post-secondary levels has been asking students to engage deeply with a text and get to know it well so they can summarize it, ask questions about it and critique it.

This approach will likely serve less well in an age where AI can so easily spoof the very cues we look to in order to assess quality.”

In the article, Hodson gives three key skills to better equip everyone to be more resilient in the face of AI-generated creations that can potentially mislead people. 

Read the full story in The Conversation. 

Learn more about Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads.