51本色

Institute for Business Analytics

Explainable AI for Learning about Digital Disinformation (EKILED)

Interactive teaching approaches to enhance media and digital literacy

In today鈥檚 world, characterised by digitally connected public spheres, disinformation poses a significant threat to the democratic common good and to trust in the state and democratic institutions. Recent technological advances and the rapidly increasing availability of data in the field of digital disinformation enable artificial intelligence (AI) to detect digital disinformation with great precision. However, AI models such as Large Language Models (LLMs), which are used to detect digital disinformation, are 鈥榖lack boxes鈥� for users due to their complexity. Users cannot understand or validate how and why an AI model arrives at predictions regarding digital disinformation. In particular, the patterns an AI model uses to detect digital disinformation remain hidden from users.

This is where the research project 鈥�Explainable AI for Learning about Digital D颈蝉颈苍蹿辞谤尘补迟颈辞苍鈥� (EKILED) comes in. The project aims to explore interactive approaches to Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) that reveal and present the implicit knowledge of AI models for detecting disinformation in a way that is educationally valuable for users. Specifically, the aim is to develop the EKILED demonstrator, which will serve as a reflection partner for pupils (the primary target group) in recognising digital disinformation through interactive XAI approaches. This is to be made available nationwide so that teachers can be empowered, with low barriers to entry, to teach an informed approach to dealing with digital disinformation.

Cooperation partners: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of Bamberg, DASU 鈥� Transfer Centre for Digitalisation, Analytics & Data Science Ulm Eduversum GmbH

Project period: 15 March 2026 鈥� March 2029

Transfer

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) for the period from March 15, 2026, to March 31, 2029, and is coordinated by the University of Ulm.

The goal of the BMFTR鈥檚 funding initiative 鈥淭rust in Democracy and the State: Recognizing and Countering Digital D颈蝉颈苍蹿辞谤尘补迟颈辞苍鈥� is to sustainably strengthen research, development, and innovation in the field of recognizing and countering disinformation, as well as to advance effective solutions for dealing with disinformation campaigns and digital manipulation. The aim is to expand research expertise and societal media literacy and to promote the transfer of research results into practice.

The EKILED project contributes to societal resilience and the strengthening of democracy. Furthermore, EKILED serves as a guide for Germany鈥檚 technological sovereignty, particularly with regard to research on trustworthy and explainable AI.