Fact checking

This exercise aims to practice critical reading to detect signs that a given text might be written of an AI model.

After completing this activity, learners will

• Understand the importance of source verification
• Be able to handle new technology properly for their own benefit
• Know more about the challenges, dangers and possibilities of Ai written media
• Be able to discover patterns that can indicate whether a text is written by AI
• Be able to use detection softwares that can identify synthetic content.

45 min.

2 - 20

Intermediate (It is recommended to have former knowledge about the topic)

The trainer should be familiar with Chapter 4 of the E-Book for youth workers on critical thinking and other materials that can be found below.

Explain to the learners that this activity will not resolve all their problems and will not make them experts in detecting AI-generated content but  it can show them key details worth paying attention to in the future, so they will not be misled by AI-generated content. When ChatGPT became available for the public many newspapers and blogs started to experiment with the program just to see how well it performs in real life scenarios and if people can detect non-human written content? While the program sometimes commits mistakes its productivity is astonishing and can free up lots of time for writers. But it needs revision. A perfect solution could be that content creators proclaim if their content was partly or entirely written by AI. For now it is just a utopia, thus we have to educate ourselves. AI is already deceiving us; according to Cornell University researchers, about 66% of the time, people perceive fake news articles generated by GPT-2 as credible. There is AI-detecting software but it is not entirely consistent. When greater amount of text is available detection can be easier, typos, commas might be signs that the content is human written, also predictable text with standard length sentences and recurrent wording might be signals that the content is AI-written. The whole problem lies within the speed of the process. The velocity of development in this sector means that every way to spot AI-generated text becomes outdated very quickly.


Show the group the following video (in English, auto-generated captions are available for other languages:
(00:00 - 07:33)


10 min

1.  Create a media literacy activity that combines traditional media analysis with AI-generated content. Provide participants with a mix of AI-generated and human-written articles, preferably about the same topics. Every group should have two articles or blog posts, one “organic” text and an Ai generated copy.
Prepare these  before the activity.
Use the template provided.
10 min

2.  In small groups, instruct learners to analyze and compare the two types of articles, focusing on factors such as credibility, accuracy, biases, punctuation, grammar, style.
15 min

3.  Encourage discussions on the challenges of distinguishing AI-generated content from human-written content with the entire group.
5 min

4.  If there is still time: As a possible second part of the activity, invite the learners to generate news articles with Ai, so they can have a “hands-on” experience and understand why more and more companies integrate the technology in their businesses.
5 min

On post-it notes learners write down what differences one can notice between a human written and an Ai written text, what are the main points that are worth paying attention to? Discuss why it is problematic that we can not decide whether a text is written by an algorithm or a human (the question of accountability, responsibility, merits, the price of work and controllability).

This activity can be adapted in the virtual space. Video conference software is necessary for implementation. Maybe a slight retailoring of the material so it will be more consumable for people behind the screens is recommended.