YouTube’s new program teaches teens how to recognize AI content

YouTube has a lot of power when it comes to misinformation. After the 2020 election, we saw that when YouTube really digs in and cracks down on misinformation, that crackdown has a ripple effect, lessening the amount of misinfo on other social media platforms like Facebook.

But one big factor has changed since then: generative artificial intelligence entered the game. YouTube is very bullish on gen AI, talking up how powerful it could be for creators and adding multiple AI tools to its platform–but, at the same time, gen AI is also making it easier than ever to spread misinformation with generated text, deepfakes, and other false images and videos.

If YouTube wants to be smack in the middle of the AI boom, it has to contend with the fact that generative tools can be used for both creativity and misinformation–and it seems to recognize that, because now, just ahead of the 2024 presidential election, it and fact-checking nonprofit Poynter (along with Poynter’s edutainment initiative MediaWise) are launching an expansive set of lessons that teach teenagers how to identify misinformation online–including AI imagery.

The launch is timed with Global Media Literacy Week, and is an extension of YouTube’s Hit Pause media literacy campaign, which started in 2022.

“Teens today can access a world of possibilities online. Whether it’s exploring important topics around the world or looking up a video to help with algebra homework, this generation has never known a reality without this world at their fingertips,” YouTube and Poynter said in the lessons’ curriculum guide. “Along with all the enriching opportunities the internet offers, one of the real challenges with youth online media consumption is the potential for exposure to misinformation. It is crucial that they have media literacy skills to navigate their way through the confusion.”

The full curriculum is 11 lessons at 30-45 minutes each, with corresponding YouTube videos, handouts, and slideshow presentations. It’s all free for anyone around the world to use, and is intended for use in classrooms or workshops.

YouTube says the goal with this project is to help teens become “discerning digital citizens” who are capable of recognizing misinformation. It’s got its work cut out for it with gen AI, considering Gen Z seems to have dichotic opinions on the subject: studies have shown a significant portion of teens and college students are using AI on things like school assignments; but other studies show Gen Z is more cautious about AI usage and misinformation than Gen X and Boomers, and would prefer if intrusive tools weren’t added to their cell phones, so they can choose if and when they engage with AI.

Of course, the lessons aren’t only about AI; they also address topics like evaluating whether a post’s sources are trustworthy before they share it on their own page. All of this is important, but AI is of special concern, with a recent study from Amazon finding that nearly 60% of all text content on the web is AI-generated or translated through an AI algorithm.

“This curriculum aims to help teens actively and knowledgeably use the internet, specifically by giving them the skills to differentiate fact from fiction and the confidence to share information responsibly,” YouTube and Poynter said.

This isn’t the first time YouTube has gotten personally involved in establishing programs to slow misinformation: In 2022, it and parent Google committed a $13.2 million grant to support Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network. That grant came after Poynter wrote an open letter to YouTube’s then-CEO Susan Wojcicki, calling out the amount of misinformation on the platform and saying YouTube’s homegrown tools for handling it were “insufficient.”