DisCoBoard

Disinformation campaigns increasingly threaten social cohesion and democratic processes. Young people, in particular, who spend a lot of time on online social networks (OSN), are at risk of uncritically accepting manipulated content. The DisCoBoard project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), is researching Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify and explain disinformation. An AI-supported dashboard is designed to help school students identify and critically scrutinize manipulative content. Embedded in an innovative teaching concept, teachers can interactively integrate the topic of disinformation and challenges in the digital space into their lessons. DisCoBoard uses Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) to highlight disinformation and make the basis of the AI’s decisions comprehensible to users. The research project focuses on the participatory development of this XAI: teachers and students are actively involved in the design and development process to ensure that the solutions developed meet their requirements. The DisCoBoard project starts in 2025 and will be developed and tested in partner schools by 2028. The aim is to research and apply AI-supported solutions for training and promoting critical media skills and combating disinformation in the digital space.