The CEDMO 2.0 NPO project focuses on combating misinformation using artificial intelligence tools in a cross-disciplinary manner, which makes it unique. Not only AI experts but also linguists will be involved in the development of these tools. Artificial intelligence tools will also be used by education experts to increase the digital literacy of the Czech population. They will focus especially on disadvantaged groups of people, such as the elderly or the visually and hearing impaired. Lawyers will also play an important role in the project, focusing on the issue of AI regulation in the media. Last but not least, media experts will also be involved in the project. The project has been supported with CZK 175 million and will run until April 2026.
The initial meeting was opened by the project guarantor, Prof. Jiří Matas, who works at the Department of Cybernetics, CTU Faculty of Electrical Engineering. He presented the individual activities of the project and outlined future developments. The experts will meet four more times at a similar event; three times during the project and the fourth time at the end of the project. The project board will meet every month. "I am pleased that we have gathered here in large numbers. Even this initial meeting has already shown how many possibilities there are to combat misinformation and what tools we can develop. The presentations of the scientists involved were very interesting and allowed the various actors to establish cooperation, " said Prof. Matas, who appreciated the diversity of the experts present and the broad cooperation.
The whole day was dedicated to the presentation of project activities and expert teams. First, the activities of the CEDMO (Central European Digital Media Observatory) consortium were presented, which focuses mainly on fact-checking, educational activities and research. This Czech project of the same name will build on its activities and extend its tools. Faculty of Education at Palacký University in Olomouc, which will focus on increasing digital literacy, and Faculty of Law at Masaryk University, which will focus on regulating the use of artificial intelligence in the media, also presented their activities.
Furthermore, expert teams from the Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics of Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University were mentioned, which will work, for example, on tools for monitoring voice messages in multiple languages or will focus on the issue of factual errors in the outputs of large language models. Researchers from the Computer Science Department and the Cybernetics Department of CTU Faculty of Electrical Engineering will develop artificial intelligence tools for detecting deepfake videos, generative AI outputs and other manipulated material, or for moderating Internet discussions involving Internet trolls spreading disinformation.
Researchers from CTU Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics also presented their activities. They will use large-scale language models to detect changes of opinion in society or to investigate the reasoning of neural networks, which, for example, will enable them to detect chatbots.
The lectures lasted until late afternoon. All attendees had the opportunity to get to know in depth what the different teams will be working on within the project. The kick-off meeting provided a space for networking and collaboration between the subjects, so that together they can take their research further, achieve the project goals and increase the resilience of Czech society to disinformation.