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Deepfakes and voice clones are a reality in young people’s digital lives. In our new Spot On article, upper-secondary students learn to approach the content they encounter online with a critical eye in their social studies classes.
The internet is full of misinformation, fake news, and manipulated content – and young people are particularly vulnerable, as we know their consumption of digital content is high. With advanced AI technology, anyone can create and spread false but realistic deepfakes through videos, images, or voices, making it seem like real people are saying or doing things they never actually did.
This creates confusion, mistrust, and fear among young people, and in the worst case, it can distort their perception of reality, making it harder for them to distinguish between what is true and what is false.
That’s why we want to teach young people to critically evaluate the authenticity of the voices, images, and videos they encounter, so they can navigate safely in a digital world where not everything is as it seems.
Critical thinking about deepfakes
The Rights Alliance has just released a new educational program designed to raise young people’s awareness and critical thinking regarding deepfakes online. It’s a topic that both students and teachers feel they lack knowledge about, and one that, with our expertise in deepfakes, we are pleased to shed light on.
The program is a Spot On article and the third in our series on Gyldendal’s digital teaching platform for social studies in upper-secondary education. In the article, students encounter examples of well-known individuals whose identities have been misused through deepfake technology – including voice actor David Bateson, whose voice we at RettighedsAlliancen work to protect from voice cloning, and Taylor Swift, who has had fake nude images of herself circulated.
Spotlight on current social issues in education
Spot On are educational articles with subject-based questions on important social issues, aimed at social studies classes in grades 8–10. This article focuses on deepfakes and the harmful consequences of artificial intelligence when the technology is used incorrectly or maliciously.
Through concrete examples where AI manipulates our perception of what is true and false, students actively work to understand what it takes to critically evaluate the content they encounter on social media. How do we navigate it?
The answer is that we must always approach what we see and read with a critical eye – even if it can be challenging.
Find the Spot On article on Gyldendal’s social studies portal here.