Concordia researcher explores how AI is changing our relationship with misinformation

As AI-generated content becomes increasingly common, it is becoming more difficult to distinguish reliable information from misleading, manipulated or simply ambiguous content.

More than $175,000 in combined funding will support a Concordia research team studying how young adults evaluate information in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), and whether misinformation-detection tools can support — or alter — their ability to exercise critical thinking.

Led by Florent Michelot, a professor in the Department of Education, the research project will examine what happens when ambiguous content is presented in environments that replicate the conditions in which we typically encounter information online.

Participants between the ages of 18 and 25 will be exposed to different simulations featuring real social media posts, AI-generated content and content whose reliability is more difficult to determine. The goal is to observe how young people evaluate information when placed in a context that resembles their everyday online experience, and how their judgement changes depending on the type of content they encounter.

The databases currently used by these types of research often rely on content collected before the rise of generative AI. This project will therefore also seek to build a more recent database that is more closely rooted in the Quebec cultural context, including French-language content.

In collaboration with colleagues at the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Michelot’s team will also continue developing an algorithm designed to detect misinformation and disinformation.

In the longer term, the team plans to reconnect with the same young people after developing a beta version of the tool. A central question will be whether, when using such a detection tool, people become better at evaluating information — or whether they instead choose to delegate their judgement to the algorithm.

The research team is currently inviting people between the ages of 18 and 25 to help expand the research database of posts contextualized to Quebec. Individuals can submit examples of suspected fake news they encounter online, including misinformation, AI-generated content or posts whose accuracy is difficult to determine.

The research project is supported by combined funding from the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technologies (Obvia) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec, Groupe de recherche interétablissement sur l'intégration pédagogique des technologies de l'information et de la communication and Laboratoire vivant d’innovation sur l’apprentissage au postsecondaire.

Are you between 18 and 25 and interested in contributing to this research? Take part in the study by submitting fake news you encounter.