A kidnapped child or a fake video? How to teach your children to identify fakes online
A new free platform teaches elementary and middle school students to distinguish between reliable information, AI-generated content, and fraud attempts. Children practice identifying fake images, videos, and messages, receiving explanations on how to spot red flags.
A kidnapped child, a product that promises safe weight loss, and messages about extreme weather — do you and your children know how to identify fakes online? A new free platform seeks to teach elementary and middle school students to distinguish between reliable information, content created by artificial intelligence (AI), and fraud attempts.
If in the past parents taught their children not to talk to strangers on the street, today, in the era of AI, the biggest challenge is actually in the screen. Many first-grade students already own a smartphone, and along with other students and teenagers, they are exposed to videos that look real but were created by AI, to sophisticated phishing messages, to disinformation, and to fake news.
All of these have become an integral part of the digital world in which teenagers are growing up. Sometimes the content looks so real that even adults cannot distinguish it from reliable information.
The education system has declared that it will try to deal with the new reality and train children to identify fake news, but it is important that parents also pay attention. Against the backdrop of the dramatic rise in the use of AI to create misleading content, and while Israel is approaching another election cycle in which a flood of false information is expected on social networks, FakeLab.io has been launched.
A game that teaches to stop and doubt
The free platform is designed to teach elementary and middle school students to identify fake content, distinguish between reliable information and manipulations, and develop critical thinking in a world where it is no longer possible to believe every photo or video.
The learning on the platform is interactive and based on a game. Children are exposed to photos, messages, videos, and websites, and try to identify whether it is real content, content created using AI, or a fraud attempt. After each task, they receive a detailed explanation of the signs that should have raised suspicion, with the goal of developing skills that will serve them even outside the platform.
You can check if your children can distinguish between real and fake information here: https://fakelab.io/lab
According to Chen Barakat, the project's initiator, the idea was born out of the understanding that technology is advancing faster than the ability of the education system and parents to provide children with tools to deal with it. "Today, you no longer need to be an expert to produce a photo, video, or recording that looks completely real. Within minutes, anyone can create content intended to mislead, influence, or defraud. If we do not teach children to stop, check, and doubt, they will grow up in a world where it will be almost impossible to know what can be believed."
Barakat explained the timing:
"We are entering a period where we will see more and more content created using AI, whether for entertainment, fraud, or influencing public opinion. An election campaign is a particularly fertile ground for spreading false information, and therefore it is important to start teaching the younger generation already now how to ask the right questions. The goal of FakeLab is not to teach children to suspect everything, but to teach them to stop and doubt before they believe and share."
