Lesson 949 of 1169
How to Tell If a Wild News Story Was Made by AI
Some 'news' you see is made up by AI to get clicks. Here are the small clues that give it away.
Explorers · Ethics & Society · ~4 min read
The big idea
AI can write whole news stories that look real but are not. Learning to check before you share keeps fake stuff from spreading because of you.
Some examples
- The story is shocking but no big news site has it — that is a clue
- The photo has weird hands, melted text, or six fingers — likely AI
- The 'expert' quoted does not show up anywhere else online — suspicious
- It tells you to 'share before they delete it' — classic fake-news trick
Try it!
Next time something wild pops up in a feed, search the headline. Does any real news site have the same story?
Key terms in this lesson
Practice this safely
Try this with a low-stakes example and a trusted adult nearby. The goal is to notice how AI talks about misinformation, not to let it make the decision for you.
- 1Ask AI to explain misinformation in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
- 2Give it one detail from "How to Tell If a Wild News Story Was Made by AI" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
- 3Check verification against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.
End-of-lesson quiz
Check what stuck
8 questions · Score saves to your progress.
Lesson help
Questions are best handled with a grown-up here.
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