AI in Society: AI and Disinformation in the Digital Age

By the successful completion of the module, students should be able to:

- Define and differentiate between misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

- Analyze at least three real-world disinformation examples and identify their type and motive.

- Evaluate the role of social media algorithms and cognitive biases in the spread of disinformation.

- Apply three digital verification tools and a fact-checking checklist to assess the credibility of online content.

Target group

The course is suitable for

• anyone interested in societal questions related to artificial intelligence
• all students in any study programme

No particular data science background is required, but it is recommended that you are familiar with basic concepts such as machine learning. For a good introduction to artificial intelligence, the course Elements of AI (TKT21028) is recommended.

• The course can be taken at any stage of studies.
• Intermediate level course in Data Science.
• The course may be offered among the university’s continuous learning courses.
  

Completion methods

• The course is completed online (fully distance learning) and there are no attendance requirements.
• The course is completed by doing exercises. All the exercises are automatically or peer graded. There is no exam.
• The detailed criteria for passing the course are described in the MOOC online learning environment.

Open University and degree programme completion methods may be different.

Assessment practices and criteria

Successful completion of the exercises in the MOOC. Criteria for passing are defined and described in the MOOC learning environment.

The course is graded on a pass / fail basis.

Activities and teaching methods in support of learning

• The course material contains text and interactive elements.
• The exercises are designed to challenge the student to re-read the material and access further sources enough to be able to solve the task.
• Students own thinking to apply societal concepts in assignments is required.

The Una Europa MOOC AI in Society is created within the partnership of Una Europa alliance. The awarding body of the ECTS credits is the University of Helsinki. Content for this MOOC has been created in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, The University of Edinburgh, the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, the Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Bologna, KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), and University of Zurich (Universität Zürich).