Digital media literacy is a super hot topic in education because of the impact AI generated content can have on learning. It should be a hot topic for the general public as well because every last one of us could easily and unwittingly fall prey to the bad actors out there generating content that is incredibly realistic and incredibly believable -- and is all super duper fake! Let's just take a look at an analysis of how AI generated false content could impact our upcoming Presidential election. Without being incredibly discerning consumers of information, we all could easily be duped into believing something that is simply not true. One of the most important things we need to do is first, pay attention to our own common sense. If you see, watch, or hear something that makes you think, "Is this actually real?" that's your sign to do some investigating! And that may also mean finding the information in multiple locations because, sadly, far too many reputable sources of information have mistakenly shared false information. This really believable false content is so common it has a name -- deep fakes. And they are incredible sometimes! Just for fun, here's the first deep fake I fell for (if only for a moment). I saw the video and said to my husband, "Tom Cruise and Paris Hilton are a couple???" He looked at me like I had 3 heads, so I decided to check it out and discovered it was all fake. I felt pretty dumb!
But let's take a moment to look at something that kids might be vulnerable to. Here's an AI generated video that will completely appeal to kids: a video of amazing new animals like giraffe flamingoes, eel cats, and bunny armadillos among others -- creatures that will freak you out but may totally mesmerize kids who may then believe these are somehow real.
- S = STOP when you encounter content that makes you wonder about it.
- I - INVESTIGATE the information in the content.
- F = FIND alternate coverage of the same content.
- T = TRACE the origin by looking at other places where the content is found, looking for dates, authors, etc.
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