On Friday 20 December 2024, Dr George Petasis, Researcher at the Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications of NCSR Demokritos, participated as an invited guest in the TV show “Blame Game” on ERT National Channel.
The topic of discussion on the specific episode was disinformation and fake news, where Dr Petasis had the opportunity to present IIT’s research work in these relevant fields for two European research projects: TITAN and AI4Trust.
More specifically, Dr Petasis explained how and why fake news are spread, as well as the impact of disinformation on society, especially in terms of undermining citizens’ trust in institutions and democracy. In this context, Dr Petasis elaborated on the work conducted in the frame of the projects, AI4Trust and TITAN. Both projects try to address the phenomenon of fake news and disinformation with the use of AI, providing on the one hand the media professionals with the appropriate AI-driven tools to deal with it in the context of their daily workflow and on the other hand focusing on the citizens themselves, trying to cultivate their critical thinking around the evaluation of the news they receive.
In both cases, the aim of the projects is to use AI in an ethical way that will empower people either as professionals or as citizens to combat against disinformation and reduce the negative impact of this phenomenon into society.