AI images and conspiracy theories are driving a push for media literacy education
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High school students taking part in the University of Washington's annual MisInfo Day earlier this month. They are looking at pictures of faces to tell whether the images were created with generative AI tools or authentic.Kim Malcolm / KUOW -
Some of the members of the team that won the escape room challenge at MisInfo Day, who represent Sedro Woolley High School, north of Seattle.Kim Malcolm / KUOW
Videos, images and text created by generative artificial intelligence tools are turning up in elections, for sale on Amazon and even in court documents. Learning to identify the growing flood of deepfakes, along with online conspiracy theories, is becoming a rite of passage for students.
Earlier this month, about 500 high school students were milling about a cavernous ballroom on the University of Washington's Seattle campus, just as the annual MisInfo Day event was about to begin.
Isabella and Jasper are two sophomores from Ballard High School. (NPR isn't using students' last names because they're under 18.)
Both consider themselves relatively savvy online, but admit it's getting harder to figure out what they're seeing online... especially the realistic images created by AI tools.
"I feel like...being able to use AI to make images is definitely sort of problematic," says Jasper.
"I'm actually not that confident," said Isabella. "I feel like I'll like fall for really stupid things and I'll be like, 'Oh, how did I not know this is not real?'"
Navigating exaggeration, spin and outright lies
Since its founding in 2019, MisInfo Day has grown into one of the nation's best known media literacy events for high school students.
It originated with a popular undergraduate course at the University of Washington, "Calling Bulls***: Data Reasoning in a Digital World," co-created by Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom, to provide their students some guidance in how to navigate the proliferation of exaggeration, spin, and outright lies that could pass for facts and evidence online.
High school teachers were looking for something similar they could bring to their students, and MisInfo Day was born.
Organizers set up multiple sessions for students to choose from, including TikTok and viral misinformation, and making sense of online rumors.
The escape rooms were among the most popular. There, the students broke into small teams and had 45 minutes to figure out if rumors a friend was passing along about a K-Pop group were true.
Part of the exercise involved looking at sets of images of human faces to figure out which were real and which were AI-generated. Some of the students debated whether a face's teeth looked right while one student laughed that another face was "giving catfish profile," referring to scams where someone uses a manufactured persona, often featuring an attractive image of another person, to draw in prey.
The first event in 2019 drew 200 kids from four local high schools. After a couple of years going online during the covid-19 pandemic, more than 500 students from six local schools took part in person at the Seattle event this year.
Hundreds more students attend other events hosted in collaboration with two campuses of Washington State University. This year, MisInfo Day's organizers say 68 teachers from ten different states and three countries registered for online training with the MisInfo Day library, so they can lead the activities in their own classrooms.
Educators are trying to fill a big gap, says Jevin West, an associate dean of research at UW's Information School who co-founded the university's Center for an Informed Public.
"The whole motivation for this program was to spend an entire day which might be the only day that many of these students will devote to this, what I consider one of the more important things that we can be teaching our public."
A growing demand for media literacy education
The advocacy non-profit group Media Literacy Now's annual report shows 18 states have now passed bills pushing for media literacy education, and half of all state legislatures have held debates or votes on the topic.
A recent survey from Boston University shows 72% of adults say misinformation is a concern. But there's a partisan gap in attitudes towards media literacy, says BU's Michelle Amazeen
Democrats are more more likely (81%) to agree than Republicans (66%) that media literacy skills are important. Relatedly, Democrats are more likely than independents and Republicans to believe that media literacy training teaches one how to think more critically – and not what to think.
"It's consistent with the pattern overall, that Republicans are just less trusting of media, they feel that there's a liberal bias in the media and so they're more likely to agree that media is trying to tell them what to think," says Amazeen.
Jim Walsh, chair of the Washington State GOP, has criticized some of the state's work to combat election disinformation, but he supports efforts like MisInfo Day.
"Well, like many things, the term media literacy sounds great. And it is great. If we keep it clean and clear and free of free of agendas. The risk, the challenge, is to make sure it stays free and clear, and doesn't doesn't end up getting hijacked by people pushing agendas of any sort," says Walsh.
Back at Misinfo Day, a team of students from Sedro Woolley High School, north of Seattle, were the first to solve the escape room.
The winners all said they felt better equipped to assess what they see online after after the session. But the students wondered why media literacy education should be limited to teenagers.
"I think honestly, adults might benefit more from it. Because they don't usually think about that kind of stuff. We're growing up in a very technological era. So we know we have to, but some adults are like, 'Oh, it doesn't affect me. Because I didn't grow up like that,'" says Katie, a member of the winning team.
MisInfo Day is expanding. In May, it'll offer sessions to students in California for the first time.
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Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Conspiracy theories that go viral, fake, AI-generated images. Now, this might all seem very new and sci fi, but these things are already widespread, so learning how to spot digital hoaxes is becoming part of growing up. From member station KUOW in Seattle, Kim Malcolm has this report.
KIM MALCOLM, BYLINE: It's called MisinfoDay, and it's an annual event now at the University of Washington. About 500 high school students are milling about one recent morning in a cavernous ballroom on campus, including two sophomores, Isabella and Jasper. We're not using their last names because they're under 18. They say it's getting harder to figure out what they're seeing online, especially the images generated by AI.
JASPER: I feel like being able to use AI to make images, I think, is definitely sort of problematic.
ISABELLA: I'm actually not that confident because I feel like I'll, like, fall for really stupid things. And I'll be like, oh, how did I not know this is, like, not real?
MALCOLM: They head over to the escape room, one of the most popular sessions. The students break into small teams to solve a challenge. They have less than an hour to figure out if some rumors a friend is passing along about a K-pop group are true. Part of the exercise is to look at a bunch of images of human faces and figure out which are real.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: This person seems fake. Just, like, their teeth are a little off.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: So what if, like, real, like, people are like that?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Have a - yeah, I know, that's the issue.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: There has to be a real one.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I feel like she looks real.
MALCOLM: MisinfoDay is one of the country's best known media literacy events. The first one back in 2019 drew 200 kids from four local high schools, now more than 500 are taking part. Teachers around the U.S. and in other countries are also being offered training. Jevin West co-founded the program.
JEVIN WEST: The whole motivation for this program was to spend an entire day, which might be the only day that many of these students will devote to this, what I consider one of the more important things that we can be teaching our public.
MALCOLM: 18 states have now passed bills pushing for media literacy education. That's according to the advocacy group Media Literacy Now. A recent survey from Boston University shows nearly three quarters of adults say misinformation is a concern. But there's a partisan gap in attitudes towards media literacy, says Boston University's Michelle Amazeen. Democrats are more supportive of teaching it.
MICHELLE AMAZEEN: Republicans are just less trusting of media. They feel that there's a liberal bias in the media, so they're more likely to agree that media is trying to tell them what to think.
MALCOLM: Jim Walsh is chair of the Washington state GOP. While he's criticized some of the state's work to combat election disinformation, he supports efforts like these.
JIM WALSH: And it is great if we keep it clean and free of agendas. The challenge is to make sure it stays free and clear and doesn't end up getting hijacked by people pushing agendas of any sort.
MALCOLM: Back at MisinfoDay, a team of students from Sedro Woolley High School are the first ones to solve the escape room. They all say they feel better equipped to assess what they see online after today. But one teammate, Katie, wonders, why should it be limited to teenagers?
KATIE: I think, honestly, adults might benefit more from it because they don't usually think about that kind of stuff. Like, we're growing up in a very technological era, so we know we have to. But some adults are like, oh, it doesn't affect me because I didn't grow up like that.
MALCOLM: MisinfoDay is expanding. It's going to offer sessions to students around the state and, for the first time, in California later this year. For NPR News, I'm Kim Malcolm.
(SOUNDBITE OF SILVAN STRAUSS' "STARTING TO SMILE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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