Foundation AI
AI Literacy for Democratic Liberty
Misinformation saturates political media and threatens the democratic process.
Generative AI (genAI) only makes this easier.
GenAI tools can quickly produce and spread misinformation that is difficult to differentiate from authentic content.
Enter Foundation, an e-learning curriculum that leverages genAI for an informed civic education.
Foundation is a modular curriculum that demonstrates different applications of genAI. Users will practice identifying misleading content, develop competency in genAI tools, and reflect on the ways that genAI influences democracy. Designed for first-time voters, this curriculum encourages informed civic engagement amidst this unprecedented political media landscape.
Learner
First-time voters, young college students
Settings
Integration into college coursework & LMS
Outcomes
Increased media & genAI literacy
Environment
The curriculum responds to the rapid advancement of generative AI, a technology that policymakers struggle to regulate while technologists seek to expand. This encourages users to consider the interdisciplinary relationship between emerging technology and civics to make informed voting decisions.
Foundation provides a Facilitation Guide with suggested activities to help users gather “domain-specific” background information to focus their inquiry within the scope of the curriculum. Each module demonstrates appropriate use of each genAI tool to scaffold learning for all users, regardless of their technological literacy.
Modules
⭐️ Sentiment Analysis of Political Speeches
Users analyze rhetorical devices in political speeches, their impact on intended audiences, and how genAI replicates these appeals using text generation tools.
⭐️ Political Cartoon Generation & Analysis
Users review political cartoons throughout history and how they convey political messages. Then, users use these insights to create their own political cartoon using text-to-image generation on a topic of their choosing.
⭐️ Predictive Modeling with Election Data
Users consider how demographics, voting patterns, and key decisions impact election outcomes. Students will make a prediction about the outcome of the 2024 presidential election using predictive modeling tools.
⭐️ Real vs. Deepfake Detection Assessment
Users compare images, videos, and text seemingly authored by political figures to identify which were falsely generated by AI, receiving immediate feedback to practice detection.
⭐️ Final Creative Project Using genAI Tools
Users leverage the tools they've learned throughout the modules to produce a creative depiction of genAI's impact on a social dilemma of their choosing.