Designing Responsible AI Technologies to Protect Information Integrity
Mission
The rise of social media and massive information sharing online have led to a dramatic increase in the spread of both inadvertent misinformation and strategic disinformation (e.g., foreign influence operations seeking to undermine democratic nations). Additional challenges arise in helping decision-makers navigate conflicting information (e.g., information coming from different sources or evolving during a crisis, such as a national disaster or pandemic). To address this challenging information environment, our mission is to design, build, and test innovative AI technologies to support journalists, professional fact-checkers, and information analysts. Our use-inspired research to protect information integrity world-wide drives our broader work to develop responsible AI technologies that are both fair (in protecting different stakeholders who may bear disproportionately impacts) and explainable (so that stakeholders can best capitalize upon AI speed and scalability alongside their own knowledge, experience, and human ingenuity).
The short version: We design, build, and test innovative AI technologies to protect information integrity and support fact-checking work by journalists, professional fact-checkers, and information analysts.
Research Team
Quick Links: Publications • Official UT Project Page
Op-Ed: Social Media Platforms’ Struggles with Misinformation and Racism: Challenges and Paths Forward (Nov. 11, 2022)
Podcast: AI's Impact on election mis- and disinformation. Generation AI. February 27, 2024.
Core Faculty
Maria De-Arteaga (Information, Risk and Operations Management Department)
Greg Durrett (Computer Science)
Matthew Lease (School of Information, PI)
Min Kyung Lee (School of Information)
Jessy Li (Linguistics)
Jo Lukito (School of Journalism and Media)
Dhiraj Murthy (School of Journalism and Media, Co-PI)
Affiliated Faculty
Amelia Acker (School of Information)
Rosental Alves (School of Journalism and Media)
Ahmer Arif (School of Information)
Kiril Avramov (Slavic and Eurasian Studies)
David Beaver (Linguistics)
Eunsol Choi (Computer Science)
Avinash Collis (Information, Risk and Operations Management)
Katrin Erk (Computer Science & Linguistics)
Ken Fleischmann (School of Information)
Jacek Gwizdka (School of Information)
Yan Leng (Information, Risk and Operations Management)
Maytal Saar-Tsechansky (Information, Risk and Operations Management)
Nahid Siamdoust (Middle Eastern Studies)
Keri Stephens (Communication Studies)
Sharon Strover (Journalism and Media)
Natalie J. Stroud (Communication Studies)
Sam Woolley (School of Journalism and Media)
Affiliated UT Centers & Initiatives
Students
Alex Boltz (Department of Government)
Anubrata Das (School of Information)
Jifan Chen (Computer Science)
Tanya Goyal (Computer Science)
Venkata S. Govindarajan (Linguistics)
Kami Vinton (School of Journalism and Media)
Houjiang Liu (School of Information)
Terrence Neumann (Information, Risk and Operations Management)
Li Shi (School of Information)
Alumni
Chenyan Jia (now Northeastern University)
Venelin Kovatchev (now University of Birmingham)