John Cook: Generative debunking and the holy grail of fact-checking

Join us at the Clyde Hotel on Thursday 23rd at 6.30 to see John Cook do a talk on using AI (including LLMs) to combat misinformation. 'Generative debunking and the holy grail of fact-checking'

Abstract:
Misinformation researchers refer to automatic detection and debunking of misinformation as the “holy-grail of fact-checking”. Machine learning models have achieved high accuracy in detecting contrarian claims about climate change, as well as detecting logical fallacies in climate misinformation. However, there is a significant gap between misinformation detection and automatic generation of corrections that are both accurate and effective. Debunkings should adhere to the best-practice recommendations informed by psychological research, such as the fact-myth-fallacy-fact structure (aka the “truth sandwich”). In this presentation, Dr. John Cook will outline how he combined machine learning research on fallacy and contrarian claim detection with generative AI to develop a model that automatically debunks climate misinformation using “truth sandwich” corrections.

He recently co-authored 'Developing an Ad Hominem typology for classifying climate misinformation'

Melbourne Uni Profile: Dr John Cook, Senior Research Fellow
##### Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences

##### https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/1028119-john-cook

John Cook is a Senior Research Fellow with the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change at the University of Melbourne. He obtained his PhD at the University of Western Australia, studying the cognitive psychology of climate science denial. His research focus is understanding and countering misinformation about climate change. In 2007, he founded Skeptical Science, a website which won the 2011 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for the Advancement of Climate Change Knowledge and 2016 Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education. John authored the book Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change, that combines climate science, critical thinking, and cartoons to explain and counter climate misinformation. He also co-authored the college textbooks Climate Change: Examining the Facts and Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis and the book Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand. In 2013, he published a paper finding 97% scientific consensus on human-caused global warming, a finding that has been highlighted by President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
https://skepticalscience.com/posts.php?u=1

We will video the talk and have a discussion afterwards.
The venue will be upstairs at the Clyde Hotel.

John Cook in the media: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/07/cranky-uncle-climate-change-game-vaccine-misinformation-john-cook