“Everything’s Fake – Or Is It?”: Promoting Confidence in Dealing with Media and AI

The Vontobel Foundation is providing support for the project “Everything’s Fake – Or Is It?” by the Public and Society Research Center at the University of Zurich (“fög”).  Its aim is to empower young people to engage with media and Artificial Intelligence and to question their own media consumption.

Founded in 1997, fög – the Public and Society Research Center at the University of Zurich – specializes in media and public communication research. The center focuses on the digital transformation of the public sphere, particularly the evolution of the media and its consequences for society. With the publication of its yearbook “Quality of the Media,” fög systematically and empirically examines the development of the media’s ecosystem and the habits of its users. In addition, fög has long been active in continuing education and media literacy promotion; its offerings are currently used by approximately 1,300 schools in Switzerland via the “CheckNews” platform.

The use of Artificial Intelligence in public communication increasingly makes it difficult for social media users to distinguish genuine content from fake news and deepfakes, and to assess the truthfulness of media messages. This is especially challenging for young people, who frequently use social media; a high level of media literacy is called for.

For this reason, it is particularly important for young people to acquire the skills needed to access and critically evaluate information. This will enable them, in the future, to actively engage and contribute within the evolving environment of a digital society and public sphere.

With the project “Everything’s Fake – Or Is It?”, fög is developing an attractive and contemporary curriculum for schools. Both students and teachers are encouraged to engage with the topics of media and Artificial Intelligence. The project aims to empower young people to critically assess the media content they consume and to evaluate its credibility.