Presentation by Ana Fernandez from VUB on the challenges presented by disinformation, and how the TITAN project is advancing the state of the art in countering this phenomenon through AI tools. Namely, using a chatbot to help people ask the right question about content to decide if it is true or not. This presentation was given at the European Week of Regions and Cities 2023. To learn more about TITANs approach and to subscribe for updates visit www.titanthinking.eu

1. Disinformation and AI
Workshop
Separating fact from
fiction: Creating a smarter,
and trusted Europe
#EURegionsWeek
12/10/23

3. A complex concept, there is not one type of agreed definition of
disinformation.
It refers to online manipulation or ‘fake news’
Disinformation refers to the purpose of sharing false information
What is disinformation?

4. The importance of combating disinformation
• An increased volume of disinformation
that can be generated by AI (especially
Generative AI)
• E.g., Falsehoods spread six times faster
on Twitter than regular or factual content
[1].
• Facilitates the creation of content (e.g.,
fake websites) quickly and in large
quantities

5. Fact-checking tools are
currently not enough to avoid
the rapid spread of
disinformation

6. The importance of combating disinformation
• Generative AI tools grow more
sophisticated, different actors (political,
etc) are continuing to deploy the
technology to amplify disinformation
• It is affecting democracies and people’s
trust in the media

7. Disinformation creates
confusion
• Four in five (86%) people
believe they’ve been
exposed to fake news [2]
• Among them, nearly nine in
ten (86%) believed the
content was real at least
once

8. Scientific literature suggests that….
Brussels School of Governance at VUB [4] studied the
consequences of using AI to fight disinformation. It
strongly suggests going against the increased use of AI
in content moderation, without prioritizing human review
processes
To combat, people need to be able to recognise
disinformation before they share it with others

9. EU Horizon research project
An AI-based citizen coaching ecosystem that empowers
citizens to arrive at their logical conclusions about
statements in the news.
Building a Chatbot (conversational tool) based on Socratic
dialogue that will help citizens with critical thinking skills.
The purpose of the project: support citizens with their
critical skills by implementing a novel AI Socratic
methodology within the system.

10. Project Consortium
TITAN brings together 14 partners from 8 European countries (Italy, Belgium, Greece,
Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark, UK) with expertise from AI and ethical algorithm skills,
argumentation mapping and psycho-cognitive expertise, to co-creation, Socratic
methodology, ecosystem building, collaboration tools and system integration

11. TITAN advances the state of the art in countering disinformation :
multitude of tools

12. A Socratic thinking approach ensures citizens take control in
investigating false information by asking the right questions
• Conversational technique from the
Greek philosopher, Socrates
• Participants make assertions about a
topic and investigate them with
logical questions
• Critical thinking is stimulated
enabling the participants to come to
their own conclusion about content
accuracy

13. Together let’s create a more resilient Europe
Co-create: Understand
human-centred needs,
actions and challenges
and grow ecosystem
around countering
disinformation
Socio-technical framework:
Determine methodological
considerations and AI machine
learning models for personalised
coaching
Infuse with technology: Build
ethical, intelligent, support
assistant for citizen coaching
● Cloud based AI/ML services
● Language models
● Disinformation signals
● Training models
● Experiential learning
TITAN AI
CONVERSATIONAL
AGENT SOLUTION
A citizen driven, continuously
learning ecosystem helping people
to stop spreading
disinformation

14. Thank You!
Ana.fernandez.inguanzo@vub.be

15. References
1 Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. science, 359(6380), 1146-1151.
2 Source: IPSOS 2019
3 Fabian Zimmermann & Matthias Kohring (2020) Mistrust, Disinforming News, and Vote Choice: A Panel Survey on the
Origins and Consequences of Believing Disinformation in the 2017 German Parliamentary Election, Political
Communication, 37:2, 215-237, DOI: 10.1080/10584609.2019.1686095
4 Marsden, C., & Meyer, T. (2019). Regulating disinformation with artificial intelligence: Effects of disinformation initiatives
on freedom of expression and media pluralism. European Parliament. https://doi.org/10.2861/003689