Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the way information is created, shared, and consumed. Like any technology, it has potential both to help and to harm. It can support journalists with time-consuming tasks such as transcription and data analysis, but it is also enabling increasingly sophisticated forms of disinformation that threaten the foundations of press freedom. Deepfakes, synthetic media and bots are being used to distort public debate, interfere in elections and endanger journalists, especially in places where media independence is already under pressure.
IFEX members are tackling AI challenges and threats head-on. Through debates and research, fact-checking initiatives, media literacy efforts and advanced linguistic models to detect hate speech, they’re helping to ensure that AI becomes a tool to strengthen journalism, not silence it.
The stories here offer a glimpse of how civil society is shaping a future where press freedom and AI can co-exist.
Fighting AI-powered disinformation through collaboration
IFEX spoke with the director of the Comprova project, Sérgio Lüdtke, to better understand how artificial intelligence is reshaping disinformation threats in Brazil – and how collaborative journalism may be our strongest line of defense.
Disinformation, democracy, and the digital battlefield
As AI-powered disinformation threatens to unravel decades of Ghana’s democratic progression, Fact-Check Ghana leverages coalition, context, and community.
Engaging with North Macedonian youth on AI and disinformation
IFEX member Metamorphosis’s “Cyber Shakes” events grew out of a determination to engage with young people in an informal setting and to understand their concerns about new technologies and their impact on the information ecosphere.
Tracking digital incitement: Countering disinformation-fueled violence
IFEX member 7amleh is using AI to promote accountability and strengthen protection from online hate campaigns. The Violence Indicator offers a sobering look at the real-time connection between online incitement and escalating physical violence perpetrated against Palestinians.
Ballots, bots, and beyond: The proactive role of civil society in countering AI disinformation
The rampant use of AI tools in the 2024 Indian elections period prompted civil society groups, including IFEX member Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC.in), to launch a series of actions to engage stakeholders in countering misuse of this technology.
How one global network is taking on AI
Discover how artificial intelligence is reshaping the fight for freedom of expression and information rights, and what IFEX members are doing about it.