Students develop platforms to combat misinformation

Students develop platforms to combat disinformation It is very easy to create any type of content with artificial intelligence (AI). Anyone can create images, texts, and videos with a few clicks. All of this can be used to inform or even to create false content that spreads lies. How far does the impact of what people create with AI go? This was one of the questions that motivated the students Alice Gomes, Beatriz Vasconcellos, and Letícia de Oliveira, aged 14, from the 9th grade of the School and Challenge Course in Recife, to create the Pense Bem tool. The project won the HackaNAV 2026, a national innovation competition organized by Nave a Vela, a technological education solution from Arco Educação. As a prize, the students won a technological immersion at the United States space research agency, NASA. “In Pense Bem, you can put publications you intend to make so that it calculates the risk, such as how this can escalate, if that can have a negative domino effect,” explains Beatriz Vasconcellos, one of the student creators of Pense Bem. The platform is already online but still needs to be improved to be officially launched. “Before publishing, think about the impact,” this is the invitation for those who access it. From there, various questions are asked so that it can be assessed whether the content poses or not any risk when disseminated. Among the questions are: - Does this content involve nudity, intimate or sexual material of someone under 18 years old - or of anyone without consent? - Was it generated or edited by AI? - Are there recognizable real people? - Did they give consent? - Does it show the facts as they really happened? The platform then classifies the content according to risk and indicates whether adjustments can be made to the content and the post so that it does not generate disinformation and cause harm to the population. "We saw in several studies that fake news can affect people's lives a lot, even in personal life, socialization. Fake news created by a person, about a person, can directly affect even their psychology," Beatriz evaluates. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) classified disinformation as the main global risk for 2025 and for the years to come, ahead of climate change, the environmental crisis, migratory flows, violence, and terrorism. Democracy The three students conducted research and interviews with teachers, students, and specialists to develop the work. “There are many negative impacts that can happen because of disinformation. And I think what shocks the most, what is most surprising, at least for me, is that I discovered how much disinformation can affect our democracy. Both in election years and in non-election years, democracy can be affected by disinformation when fake news are spread,” said Beatriz. For Alice Gomes, also a member of the group, AI helps, but it can also make people not question what comes through the internet or even in family WhatsApp groups. “This makes the person, when they receive information, they don't search beforehand if this information is true or false. They just take this information and end up sharing the information, without knowing if it is true or not, without knowing its sources,” she said. Alice reveals that the project helped her change the way she receives, shares, and creates content on the internet. “We see a news online or even in the applications of our daily lives and immediately think ‘Wow, I will research this news better’. I would say it improved our thinking as people.” “Your solution is to make other people improve their daily lives too, to improve their critical thinking as well,” she defends. The third group member, Letícia de Oliveira, emphasizes that the research helped her see the digital world in another way and the importance of media education and education for digital means. “We realize that disinformation is a very serious problem that affects the population and the people around us. I saw, both in the family group and on Instagram, people being affected by fake news, by digital information,” she said. “I think the topic of digital disinformation was something spoken about, but it was never something I deeply explored knowing. And then, with this project, I managed to have more knowledge about disinformation and how we can help other people fight it,” the student added. Developments Pense Bem still has developments focused on school education, with games and even digital education training, still in development. This is not the trio's first work, which also developed in the scope of the competition the Fato ou Boato platform to identify false news. In it is possible to paste the news link so that its veracity can be analyzed. The three students are excited about the visit to NASA and, with the project, they say they became more interested in technology. Letícia and Alice are considering careers in technological areas. Beatriz, however, intends to be a doctor.