Human-machine alliance against fake news
Social Media has been evolving massively in the past few years. We are all using it now, and it allows us to connect with everybody around the world almost immediately. But each piece of technology has its dark side, and in this particular case we have “fake news.” Three years ago we never heard of anything like this and now it’s all over the news.
“Fake news” was created by a man who always enjoyed the ideas of propaganda and misinformation. His efforts of publishing fabricated stories had a massive impact, and quickly the Internet was full of fake news sites. Since then, the phenomenon became something every amateur web user could post. But artificial intelligence will change that.
Fighting the imaginary
The studies on social media revealed that 62% of Americans are using the social platforms for information about what’s happening around the world. The way that we engage with the articles or videos influences which stories we’ll see in the future. Like other search engines, social platforms are using algorithms that allow us to see similar content the next time we sign in. Moreover, about 60% of users repost materials without reading more than the headlines. Millions of online interactions happen every minute, it’s impossible for humans to keep up. An artificial intelligence system might be able to help fight the fake news problem.
Solving fake news with AI
An advanced AI system trained to analyze text, images, videos and other formats of online posts could work faster than any human. A computer science study from one university is developing a machine-learning technique to detect fake news. The system will examine the social content and then score it based on how likely it is to be untrue. It can also generate a message to explain why the score was assigned, so users understand why the AI program flagged the material as fake news.
This solution could solve the fake news problem. Artificial Intelligence has the same information as people, but it addresses a larger volume of news without getting tired. Moreover, the possibility to get emotional or political as humans is not an option for machines.
Other AI systems created to identify fake news use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to run complex analyses on the news. NLP systems could process and organize unstructured information, pulling insights from large data sets, which would be useful in categorizing vast volumes of online materials. Algorithms specifically written to identify false news might compare how distinct sites are covering news, and also analyze the location or the context.
The human-machine alliance
Although AI helps to fight with fake news problems, humans are still responsible for creating and sharing them in the first place. Platforms like Facebook enables users to report false posts. The system uses algorithms to identify potentially fake content and stop the spreading process. The only problem is that it uses people’s input, and the selection might not be as accurate as expected.
The misinformation problem is here, and we can’t stop it overnight. AI will likely play an essential role in this online battle, but the progress in this area depends on us too. As readers, we have to become more conscientious about what we share and how is that influencing other people. That’s why a collaboration between humans and machines will work properly.
If you have questions about the topic, feel free to comment on the section below.
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