For Fact's Sake

ChatGPT is the incredible AI chatbot that's taken the internet by storm, and led many of us to wonder if our jobs will soon be obsolete.

But could it result in realistic looking misinformation being spread?

Analysts at misinformation monitoring group NewsGuard tested the chatbot with some false narrative prompts, and received some scary results.

We spoke Lorenzo Arvanitis from NewsGuard about the bot's potential for misinformation, and how AI could affect our ability to tell good information from bad.

Show notes:

• NewsGuard's report on ChatGPT is here.
• You can use ChatGPT for yourself to test its capabilities.

Elsewhere on the podcast, Ali and Paul discuss a false claim about Brexit and the Covid-19 vaccine, and in Paul's Curiosity Corner we look at a viral claim about people identifying as cats in Aberdeenshire.

We've got a brand new series of podcasts, and a brand new name.

The FFS Show is now For Fact's Sake! Paul and Ali are still here with great new podcast-exclusive guests and fact-checking.

This week we spoke to Robert Lawson, an associate professor in sociolinguistics at Birmingham City University, and an expert on masculinity and how men communicate online. He explained the appeal of Andrew Tate's hyper-mascunile, mysogynistic persona to some young men, and how he managed to rocket from obscurity to international fame in such a short time.

Ali and Paul also discuss false claims that an increase in public defibrillators is linked to the Covid-19 vaccine, and Ali talks us through the UK's controversial block on gender recognition reform in Scotland.

Show notes:

• Robert's forthcoming book, Language and Mediated Masculinities, will be available in the UK soon.
• Further reading on the cult of Andrew Tate

It's the last FFS Podcast of the year, and we've got a festive topic this week.

We're speaking to journalist and author of 'Why We Need Unions' Eve Livingston about misinfo around the Christmas strikes.

And Ali and Paul will be discussing our fact check on the controversial SNP claim that Scotland has 25% of Scotland's offshore wind potential.

The FFS Show is only possible thanks to your support. If you want to help us do more fact-checking work, become a member of The Ferret for just £5 per month.

This week's episode is a special one, focusing on our series in conjunction with The Herald called Who Owns Urban Scotland.

Ali and Paul are back, and we're joined by Ferret co-editor Karin Goodwin, who explains the difficulties in tracing the owners of major properties and land in Scotland's cities and towns.

Secrecy domains, tax havens, complex company structures and remote ownership are all covered, and Karin shows us how it can be almost impossible to work out who is ultimately behind your local high street, shopping centre or vacant land.

Show notes:

• Read all our stories on Who Owns Urban Scotland here.

The FFS Show is only possible thanks to your support. If you want to help us do more fact-checking work, become a member of The Ferret for just £5 per month.

Are you confused about what's happening at the Manston migrant centre, and what the situation is with people crossing the channel in small boats? 

Ali and Paul take a look into these issues in the latest FFS Show podcast.

The FFS Show is only possible thanks to your support. If you want to help us do more fact-checking work, become a member of The Ferret for just £5 per month.

Have you ever searched for your health symptoms on Google and freaked yourself out? That’s the topic of today’s FFS Show podcast interview.

Ali spoke to health researcher Taleen Ashekian from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, about the increasing use of Dr. Google and a phenomenon called ‘cyberchondria’.

Ali and Paul also look at a claim about what Liz Truss will be entitled to after leaving her six-week stint as prime minister.

• The article on Taleen’s research is here.
• Our fact check on Liz Truss’ post-power allowance is here.

The FFS Show is only possible thanks to your support. If you want to help us do more fact-checking work, become a member of The Ferret for just £5 per month.

Ali Brian and Paul Dobson dig into a claim from Scottish Labour leader that 1 in 7 Scots are on an NHS waiting list. You can read the full fact check here with all the source details here: https://theferret.scot/claim-700000-scots-on-nhs-waiting-list-half-true/

And we also speak to Rhiannon Davies from Greater Govanhill CIC about neighbourhood disinformation and an exciting new collaboration with The Ferret.

Spoiler! We're teaming up with Greater Govanhill to open up an office and event space in the neighbourhood - and we need your help to kit it out. Find out more and claim some unique swag here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/community-media-hub

We can only do this work because we have the support of thousands of members who make a small regular donation. You can support this podcast and get unlimited access to all stories and online training here: https://theferret.scot/subscribe

Ali is joined by Ferret journalist Jamie Mann for episode 39 of the FFS Show.

This week we look at flat earth theory. Ali interviews marketing expert Dr Carlos Diaz Ruiz from Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. He explains how promoters of the flat earth conspiracy use marketing techniques to spread the theory, and how such techniques are present in other grand conspiracies such as QAnon.

Show notes:

• An article explaining Carlos Diaz Ruiz's work on flat earth marketing is here.
• Our fact check on God Save The King is here.

The FFS Show is only possible thanks to your support. If you want to help us do more fact-checking work, become a member of The Ferret for just £5 per month.

This episode features Ferret journalist Paul Dobson in the co-host chair, and he and Ali discuss the Scottish Government's new rent freeze announcement.

Ali also spoke to Professor Sander van der Linden from the University of Cambridge, about his research into the idea of inoculating people against misinformation.

Show notes:

• Professor van der Linden's book, Foolproof: Why We Fall for Misinformation and How to Build Immunity is out next February.
• You can play the misinformation game Bad News here.
• And more about the ideas behind a "psychological vaccine" against misinformation here.

The FFS Show is only possible thanks to your support. If you want to help us do more fact-checking work, become a member of The Ferret for just £5 per month.

This week Karin Goodwin, co-editor of The Ferret, joins Ali to talk misinformation, sewage and how you can tell if you're speaking to an expert.

Ali spoke to Professor Thora Tenbrink, a real expert of linguistics and communication, who explained how often good communicators are listened to even when they don't know what they're talking about!

The FFS Show is only possible thanks to your support. If you want to help us do more fact-checking work, become a member of The Ferret for just £5 per month.

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