Paolo Attivissimo is an information technology writer and journalist, science communicator, public speaker, technical translator and interpreter, and hoax buster. He has written or co-written books
exploring conspiracy theories on 9/11, the Moon landings and vaccines, as well as over 100 articles for Le Scienze (the Italian edition of Scientific American) and a blog, “Il Disinformatico”, with over 115 million views. He co-authored the “BastaBufale” (“No more hoaxes”) school campaign for the 2016-17 Italian Chamber of Deputies. He is a technical consultant on fake news analysis for Italian and Swiss broadcasters and hosts a long-running technology podcast for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. A long-standing member of the Italian skeptics society CICAP, he lives and works in Lugano, Switzerland.
AFFILIATION: Italian service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, (Rsi.ch)
Abstract
Harnessing AI for Fake News Detection and Avoidance in Journalism
AI is often seen as a threat to journalism, through job replacement and massive fake content generation. However, when used appropriately, it can be a force multiplier for writers, communicators, journalists, fact-checkers, and debunkers. Examples of real-life journalistic workflow with AI integration, taken from actual newsroom experience, are discussed, showing how AI can streamline news triage, research, preparatory work, writing, editing, and dissemination of multimedia content and can also help in detecting and reporting fake news. Using these new tools requires a new skill set and new openness guidelines in order to build trust and avoid the pitfalls and biases of some AI approaches.