Truth in the age of AI

As part of Wesley's professional learning program, staff were inspired by multi-award-winning STEM journalist and broadcaster Rae Johnston with her talk ‘Truth in the Age of AI - How to outsmart misinformation, disinformation and deepfakes.’

Rae shared valuable insights and practical tips to help distinguish between misinformation (shared without intent to deceive) and disinformation (being deliberately misleading), how to spot deepfakes, and how we can all use our superpower - critical thinking - to navigate the digital world by asking: Does it make sense? Is there real evidence? Who benefits from this? And is it designed to provoke a reaction?

Rae was also joined by Year 11 students Olive and Joshua for a meaningful Q&A about their experiences and perspectives on navigating the online world.

Olive said, ‘Social media, AI and other digital spaces are central to how we connect, learn and work. Yes, there are risks, but like adults, we’re figuring it out as we go. What we need isn’t fear or judgment, but support and open conversations so we can navigate digital spaces safely and learn to use the online world with intention and balance.’

We thank Rae, Olive and Joshua for sparking such meaningful conversations for our teachers.