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[Translate to English:] © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
Funding from Daimler and Benz Foundation

Research Network on AI and Democracy Awarded 1.5 Million Euros

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  • Artificial Intelligence
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Zwei Personen, die an ihren Handys gemeinsam etwas nachschauen. © Finkes​/​Adobe Stock
How can artificial intelligence (AI) help citizens to keep politically informed without being manipulated by fake news and disinformation campaigns? This is the question under study in a collaborative project led by Professor Jens Gerken from TU Dortmund University. The Daimler and Benz Foundation has awarded the project 1.5 million euros for three years as part of its “Ladenburg Research Networks” program.

Political opinion-forming is one of the fundamental principles of a functioning democracy. However, whether citizens vote at all and, if so, who for, largely depends on the information they consume in their everyday lives. Alongside the traditional media, it is above all social media that shape public discourse today, which is frequently influenced by one-sided filter bubbles and echo chambers. In addition, there is a lot of misrepresentation, manipulation, distortion and artificially created content in social media that is difficult to verify. This influences democratic processes, reinforces existing opinions and undermines constructive discourse.

This is the starting point for the research network funded by the foundation. Over the course of the project, the researchers aim, in particular, to develop and test an innovative software tool they have named KonCheck, a user-friendly app that can contextualize politically relevant information and evaluate it vis-à-vis its authenticity and trustworthiness. As far as the technology is concerned, the project will build on artificial intelligence language models. Users can ask questions about specific texts, view sources, access articles in simple language and assign content to its corresponding context.  The app’s design will be intuitive and easy to understand, since it is primarily intended for vulnerable groups, including people with cognitive impairments, senior citizens and young first-time voters.

“New form of participation in the digital world”

Project manager and coordinator of the interdisciplinary research network is Professor Jens Gerken (photo), who heads the “Inclusive Human-Robot Interaction” research unit in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at TU Dortmund University. “With KonCheck, we want to create a tool that facilitates a new type of participation in the digital world: Instead of just consuming media content, KonCheck users should get to grips with it interactively.”

The portrait photo shows Prof. Jens Gerken in a blue shirt against a blurred white background with pale, colorful horizontal stripes. © Max Pascher​/​TU Dortmund University

Also participating on the part of TU Dortmund University are the Social Research Center Dortmund (Professor Jürgen Howaldt / Professor Johannes Weyer) and the “Communication for Health, Inclusion and Participation” research unit (Professor Matthias R. Hastall). They are working on the development, dissemination and evaluation of the new AI tool from the perspective of social psychology and communication science. Other project partners in the research network are the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, the Institute for Internet Security at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, and Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.

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