Column: It would be nice to be smarter beforehand – district of Munich

It’s a daily déjà vu: You get a message via Whatsapp or Telegram or Signal or other messengers. For example, it features a photo of a slender beauty who was far more plump when she was occasionally seen live. But now she presents herself in top form with the OOTD, the outfit of the day. The OOTD of acquaintances actually always looks the same and one wonders what drives them to please those around them with it. One would like to doubt that she works as a paid brand ambassador. This is clearly fake news.

And to make that judgment, you didn’t even need Michaela Geierhos. The professor of data science at the Bundeswehr University in Neubiberg and technical director of the Code research institute there is involved with colleagues from Israel in a research project called “Kimono”. This is to find out how to unmask fake news. Software is being developed to recognize patterns that indicate a disinformation campaign. AI, artificial intelligence, should help here. As intelligent as the AI ​​may be, its problem is that it can only look into the past and not the future. According to Professor Geierhos, she can only examine posts retrospectively for certain patterns.

But what use is it if this software retrospectively analyzes the patterns of the OOTD of the supposedly slim people in such a way that they were all slimmed down with the help of filters and the fat person became thin? After all, it’s over and you knew that from the start. It would be better to have software that can say immediately upon receipt of a message whether the content is a lie or the truth. But, Ms. Geierhos has to admit, we are unfortunately still at the beginning.

And therefore AI would not have been of any use to the 64-year-old from Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn, who received a message via a messenger service this week. He didn’t know the number, but the one who wrote could explain that. He is cousin Karl from Pullach or something and has lost his mobile phone. This is his new number and he urgently needs a few thousand euros. With purely human intelligence, the man believed him and since he is obviously generous, he was happy to help Karl from Pullach out of trouble and transferred me nothing, a nice sum to a specified account.

Maybe because Karl didn’t say thank you or because Höhenkirchner suddenly remembered boiling hot that you shouldn’t believe everything that is presented as truth via messenger, he then became suspicious and alerted the police. But it was just as helpless as Ms. Geierhos’ software. Yes, looking back she could see that the addressee had been cheated. For the future she could only advise a healthy distrust. And to take a critical look at every OOTD, no matter how fancy.

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