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AI and You 9-12 / Week 09 / Tuesday
2/6
Week 09 · Real, Fake and Whose?

Tuesday

Mistake or trick?
// Information integrity, provenance and intellectual property
⏱ about 20 min

Tuesday: Mistake or Trick?

Two papers land on the crew's table on the same morning.

The first is an SH-1 practice quiz about the library. Question two says the library opens at seven. Librarian Joss's notes say nine.

The second is a flyer taped to the front doors: "Library closed all Friday." It looks just like the library's real flyers.

Comet holds them up side by side. "Both are wrong. So they are the same problem, right?"

Wren taps the flyer. "What does the evidence say? Did anyone mean for the quiz to be wrong? Did someone mean for this to be wrong?"

Nova projects two headings: by mistake, and on purpose. "Would you like a hint?" she asks. "Ask why each one is wrong."

Librarian Joss sighs. "I never made that flyer. Somebody made it to fool people."

Two kinds of false content

NIST describes misinformation as false or misleading content spread without meaning to. It often comes from confabulation.

Disinformation is false content made on purpose to deceive or harm.

NIST adds that even very small changes to text or images can fool people and machines.

SH-1 sample (made up for this lesson)
Library quiz, question 2: What time does the library open? Answer: seven.
Answer key: wrong. The notes say nine. SH-1 confabulated a smooth, confident answer.
MISTAKE OR TRICK?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
The SH-1 quiz says the library opens at seven.
Someone made the "Library closed all Friday" flyer to fool people.
The fake flyer copied a real flyer and changed one line. Which idea does that show?

Deepfakes and trust

NIST calls highly realistic synthetic audio, video and photos deepfakes. The heron photo is a harmless made-up example of a realistic synthetic photo.

NIST also says generative AI can be used to make content that pretends to come from someone else.

The fake flyer pretended to come from the library. It did not need any AI to do that.

False content can also make people trust real evidence and information less.

StatementTrue or false?
Misinformation is always spread on purpose.?
Disinformation is made to deceive or harm.?
A deepfake is a highly realistic synthetic photo, video or audio.?
False content can make people trust real notices less.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEKnowing whether false content was a mistake or a trick changes how the crew responds.
WHAT THE CREW DOES WHEN A NOTICE LOOKS WRONG
  • ?Tell the people in charge so they can correct it.
  • ?Check who made it and where it came from.
  • ?Share only what checks out.
  • ?Compare it with a trusted source, such as the person in charge.
  • ?Notice that something is surprising.
WHY THIS EXERCISEChecking before sharing stops both mistakes and tricks from spreading.
False content made on purpose to deceive or harm is called ____. Type one word.
WHY THIS EXERCISENaming disinformation helps you spot when someone is trying to fool you.

Sharp thinking, reviewer. Tomorrow in the Explorer Lab you will design labels that show where things came from.

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