2 of 24

Throughout the lesson consider:

What is the role of AI in the COVID-19 epidemic?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

3 of 24

Why misinformation is a problem

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

4 of 24

DISCUSSION

How do you decide what to believe when you read something online?
How might misinformation spread?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

5 of 24

People are talking about Coronavirus on social media and searching for information about it (article)
A lot of the information available is wrong (article)

Coronavirus domains are 50% more likely to be malicious than other domains registered in the same period (article)

Why are we talking about false news and COVID-19?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

6 of 24

Read this whole article from the World Health Organization
BBC article debunking myths with truths

There’s no reason to believe drinking water, garlic, heat, drinkable silver, or miracle minerals can protect you
Easy-to-find alcohol will not home-make hand sanitizer

Harvard article debunking myths with truths

There isn’t a “secret” vaccine
It wasn’t a “human created” virus

Debunking some myths

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

7 of 24

According to this journal paper:

It takes the truth 6x longer to reach 1500 people than a falsehood
False news is more novel - people are more likely to share novel things
Emotions in replies to false stories:

Fear, disgust, and surprise

Emotions in replies to true stories:

Anticipation, sadness, joy, and trust

Programs spread false and true information equally
Humans shared false information more

Lies spread faster than truth online

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

8 of 24

AI and misinformation

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

9 of 24

DISCUSSION

How can AI stop misinformation?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

10 of 24

AI can write fake articles quickly
AI can make videos that look like they’re a person talking whether that person said that thing or not (deepfakes)

AI can spread misinformation

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

11 of 24

Tattle technologies - connect users to fact-checking in realtime. People report misinformation, and a machine model learns from these human-tagged things what information is fake (article)
Chequeado - Chequeado is a fact-checking outlet. They created an AI bot (Chequeabot) that matched claims with known falsehoods to detect when someone was spreading misinformation (article)

AI can stop misinformation

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

12 of 24

DISCUSSION

Is AI good? Why or why not?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

13 of 24

Policy response to misinformation

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

14 of 24

DISCUSSION

How do you stop the spread of misinformation online and what should tech companies do to help?

How can you verify that you are receiving true information online?
How can you make sure you are not spreading lies online?
What do you think tech companies like Google and Facebook can do to help you?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

15 of 24

According to this article

Searches on the virus trigger an SOS alert that streams mainstream news
Pulls videos from YouTube that claim to prevent the virus instead of medical help
Removes some apps from Google Play store
Blocked ads “capitalizing” on the virus

Google

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

16 of 24

According to its own About Facebook Website

Third-party fact-checkers rate information, and facebook limits views of false information
“will also start to remove content with false claims or conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organizations and local health authorities that could cause harm to people who believe them”
Promotes information from trusted sources about the virus

Facebook

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

17 of 24

Research Project

Choose a company you interact with online that might have information about Coronavirus on it (Google, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)
Research its policies on sharing misinformation generally

How do they find misinformation?
What do they do once they’ve found it?

Research its policies on sharing misinformation about Coronavirus

Are these policies different? How? Why do you think that is?

Do you think this policy is fair? Why or why not?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

18 of 24

DISCUSSION

What sort of anti-misinformation policy (if any) do you think is good to have? Explain your answer.

What are the benefits of anti-misinformation policies? Who is helped by it?
What are the drawbacks? Who is hurt?
Do you think having these policies is a good idea? Why or why not?
What policies do you think companies should adapt?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

19 of 24

DISCUSSION

What kind of laws, if any, make sense to stop the flow of misinformation?

What other government action makes sense?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

20 of 24

Arrests over misinformation on COVID-19 (article):

13 in Thailand
6 in Indonesia

Singapore Bill - Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act. Ministers decide what information is false, and order corrections and takedowns (article)
Nigeria opened a bill called “Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and for other related matters bill 2019” to regulate social media. It was not very popular (article)

Laws around the world

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

21 of 24

Research Project

Choose a country that you are interested in.
Research its policies on sharing misinformation generally

Who decides what is misinformation?
How do they respond to the misinformation?

Research its policies on sharing misinformation about Coronavirus.

Are these policies different? How? Why do you think that is?

Do you think this policy is fair? Why or why not?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

22 of 24

DISCUSSION

What kind of laws, if any, make sense to stop the flow of misinformation?

What are the benefits of anti-misinformation legislation? Who is helped?
What are the drawbacks? Who is hurt?
Do you think such legislation is a good idea?
What policies do you think countries should adapt?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

23 of 24

EPI-WIN - Spread lots of correct, verified information quickly
Find sources people trust, make sure they have timely, correct information to amplify
Visit the site for more information

World Health Organization

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

24 of 24

Summary

What did you learn about misinformation in this unit?

What is the problem with misinformation, especially in the case of an epidemic?
What are some solutions people have come up with?
What are some problems with these solutions?
What do you think should be done?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.