Information Literacy Guide

Misinformation refers to false or inaccurate information that is spread, often unintentionally, misleading or deceiving individuals or groups, leading to misunderstanding or incorrect beliefs about a particular topic, event, or situation.

Disinformation refers to deliberately false or misleading information intentionally created and disseminated to deceive or manipulate people, often for political, ideological, or malicious purposes, aiming to sow confusion, undermine trust, or influence opinions.

Fake news is a term used to describe deliberately fabricated or manipulated information presented as legitimate journalism, typically disseminated through traditional media outlets or online platforms, with the intent to mislead or deceive the public for various purposes, including influencing opinions, gaining attention, or causing harm.

Propaganda is information, often biased or misleading, disseminated systematically to promote a particular agenda, viewpoint, or ideology. It aims to shape public opinion, manipulate perceptions, and influence behavior by presenting selective or biased information in a way that supports a specific cause, group, or political ideology.

Generative AI, particularly language models like GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), can be utilised to create and disseminate both misinformation and disinformation. It can generate convincing, yet entirely fabricated, content mimicking human language and style. This technology can be employed to automatically produce fake news articles, misleading social media posts, or deceptive narratives that resemble genuine information.

Additionally, generative AI might also be used to detect and combat misinformation. By analysing vast amounts of data, these models can potentially identify patterns, inconsistencies, or sources of false information, aiding in the identification and debunking of misleading content.

However, the same AI technology used for detecting misinformation can also be manipulated to generate more sophisticated disinformation or propaganda, thereby complicating efforts to combat false information online.