Scams, Misinformation, and Disinformation: Investing in digital literacy in the new age of AI.

• August 25, 2025
• Andrew

The past few years have seen a rapid evolution in digital landscapes due to the emergence of AI technology. Nowadays, encountering AI content in the digital world has become inevitable. Popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have been flooded by user-posted AI images, and efforts towards AI technology integration have even been displayed by the social media platforms themselves. As such, a push toward a new age of modern digital literacy has become necessary in order to traverse the digital world without falling victim to scams, misinformation and disinformation.

According to Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy and Sinan Aral in their study The Spread of True and False News Online statistics suggest that on platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter), fake news is 70% more likely to be reposted, likely accounted to the emotional reaction fake news elicits. Therefore, with the increasing ease one can access advanced AI tools, creating believable news mock ups has never been easier.

The internet has seen a large influx of AI-generated content, ranging from news articles to educational sources, to recipes, and even guides. The production of this content is typically low effort and may produce inaccuracies that misinform the reader and lead them to incorrect, absurd or even dangerous conclusions. Moreover, AI images and videos have been used to create hoaxes, spread political narratives, or simply farm engagement with a view for monetary gain in mind. Most adults are easily capable of spotting obvious AI image artifacts, but the rapid advancement of this technology has synthesised images so detailed and accurate, that any person regardless of expertise may fall victim to disinformation. Additionally, scammers have made use of deep-fake technology to extract money from victims. Impersonations have taken the form of family members, coworkers, bosses, and even celebrities, tricking the victims into sending copious amounts of money.

A new approach to digital literacy is necessary to combat these changes in the online world. Users should exercise more responsibility when viewing an article and reflect on the credibility of claims. Checking the URL for accuracy and doing research on the publishers may also indicate credibility. Additional research may be beneficial, as the amount of news coverage by verified sources may be indicative of the validity of a claim. Distinguishing AI images from real ones can be done by looking for common errors in images. Hands, fingers, reflections and clothing patterns often appear unnatural in AI images, with shadows and lighting appearing inconsistent. Beyond digital literacy, AI literacy is fundamental in ensuring that AI users are familiar with the technology and its implications. The EU AI Act mandates that the staff of deployers and providers of AI systems are AI literate. Moreover, organisations such as the OECD have also produced dedicated guidance documents such as the AILit Framework for the education sector. Reverse image searching is a potential approach for detecting the sources of AI images, with tools such as Google Images or TinEye which can reveal duplicates. Using AI detection tools may also be beneficial, but the technology is not foolproof and may even potentially give false positives.

AI integration into daily life has benefitted and facilitated many tasks, enhancing efficiency and serving as a useful and informative tool, but its heightened accessibility requires that everyone exercises additional responsibility when consuming content and sharing posts. As AI continues to evolve so must users and their tools. Efforts towards awareness and responsible digital behaviour can mitigate the negative aspects of disinformation and misinformation created by generative AI, allowing the embrace of what possibilities AI offers.