Introduction: This article introduces DisTrack, a methodology and a tool developed for tracking and analyzing misinformation within Online Social Networks (OSNs). DisTrack is designed to combat the spread of misinformation through a combination of Natural Language Processing (NLP) Social Network Analysis (SNA) and graph visualization. The primary goal is to detect misinformation, track its propagation, identify its sources, and assess the influence of various actors within the network. Methods: DisTrack's architecture incorporates a variety of methodologies including keyword search, semantic similarity assessments, and graph generation techniques. These methods collectively facilitate the monitoring of misinformation, the categorization of content based on alignment with known false claims, and the visualization of dissemination cascades through detailed graphs. The tool is tailored to capture and analyze the dynamic nature of misinformation spread in digital environments. Results: The effectiveness of DisTrack is demonstrated through three case studies focused on different themes: discredit/hate speech, anti-vaccine misinformation, and false narratives about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. These studies show DisTrack's capabilities in distinguishing posts that propagate falsehoods from those that counteract them, and tracing the evolution of misinformation from its inception. Conclusions: The research confirms that DisTrack is a valuable tool in the field of misinformation analysis. It effectively distinguishes between different types of misinformation and traces their development over time. By providing a comprehensive approach to understanding and combating misinformation in digital spaces, DisTrack proves to be an essential asset for researchers and practitioners working to mitigate the impact of false information in online social environments.

'Gutfeld!' panelists react to the media claiming President Biden videos are deepfakes. Welcome to the hoax hoax. Where in the run-up to the election our media circles the wagons around a dithering Joe Biden to convince us that what we see with our own eyes isn't real. This year's hoax hoax even comes with a whole new buzz term – "cheap fake." A word that allows the left to confuse people with deep fake without actually lying.

Hoaxes are a recognised form of disinformation created deliberately, with potential serious implications in the credibility of reference knowledge resources such as Wikipedia. What makes detecting Wikipedia hoaxes hard is that they often are written according to the official style guidelines. In this work, we first provide a systematic analysis of the similarities and discrepancies between legitimate and hoax Wikipedia articles, and introduce Hoaxpedia, a collection of 311 Hoax articles (from existing literature as well as official Wikipedia lists) alongside semantically similar real articles. We report results of binary classification experiments in the task of predicting whether a Wikipedia article is real or hoax, and analyze several settings as well as a range of language models. Our results suggest that detecting deceitful content in Wikipedia based on content alone, despite not having been explored much in the past, is a promising direction.

Seoul, South Korea – The news that Saint Von Colucci, a 22-year-old Canadian-Portuguese actor, singer, and songwriter with pull in South Korea's entertainment scene, died after undergoing surgeries to look like a K-pop star set media abuzz. Von Colucci was reported to have undergone 12 plastic surgeries, costing more than $200,000, to resemble BTS member Jimin and overcome discrimination "against his Western traits". He was said to have recently secured a role in an upcoming Korean drama. The only problem is that Von Colucci may have never existed. A raft of evidence suggests he is the product of an elaborate hoax using artificial intelligence that fooled dozens of media outlets, stretching from the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom, South Korea, India, Malaysia and the Philippines. The debacle appears to be the first known case of AI being used to trick media outlets en masse into spreading misinformation, heralding the dawn of a new era of computer-generated fake news.

Deepfakes are becoming so common that we may not even realise that some of the images and videos we encounter have been artificially created. We briefly discuss what a deepfake is and some of the ways it has been permeating our lives and the content we consume. Generally, April Fool's Day is perhaps the only day of the year when we have permission to share practical jokes and hoaxes, in the hope that some of the more gullible among us would believe them, but ultimately, we can all have a good laugh about it and move on. However, what happens when it is not April Fool's Day, and hoaxes abound? That is the situation that increasingly is emerging and is of particular concern. A CNN article published late last week highlighted some of the recent hoaxes that went viral: "Pope Francis wearing a massive, white puffer coat.

Global warming (aka "climate change") is based upon a single hypothesis -- that increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere cause higher surface temperatures. According to global warming adherents, burning fuel to warm your house, cook your food and charge your electric vehicle increases the earth's temperature and damages the environment -- because of the CO2 you generate. Let's use Data Science and Machine Learning to prove or disprove the hypothesis that increased levels of CO2 cause increased surface temperature. CO2 data is sourced from the US Government's Earth System Research Laboratory, Global Monitoring Division, Mauna Loa observations. Climate and sun data is taken from NASA/POWER CERES/MERRA2 Native Resolution Annual data for the Mauna Loa location.

Hoaxes spread quickly online, be they about celebrities, politicians or anyone else. But falsehoods labeled as satire can slip through the defenses of social media companies, allowing people to peddle fiction as fact, all while making a financial profit. The claims tend to be spectacular: Bill Gates arrested for child trafficking, Tom Hanks executed by the U.S. military, or Pope Francis declaring that a COVID-19 vaccine would be required to enter heaven. These bogus allegations originated from articles on websites that contain disclaimers that they are satirical. The problem is that many people believe them.

A major police operation was under way in Montreal on Friday afternoon at offices of French video game company Ubisoft that media reported was a possible hostage-taking, but police later said no threat had yet been found, and CBC News reported that the incident had been caused by a hoax 911 call. Police confirmed the large deployment on Twitter had started at about 1.30pm, but offered no details while urging people to "avoid the area" near St-Laurent Boulevard and St-Viateur Street in Montreal's Mile-End neighbourhood, close to downtown. Police later updated in a statement that "no threat has been detected so far. Television images showed the streets around the old brick building cordoned off by heavily armed officers, and dozens of Ubisoft workers who appeared to have barricaded themselves on the rooftop. A company employee reached by telephone told public broadcaster Radio-Canada that about 50 people were led to the rooftop terrace by managers who then barricaded the door leading to the stairwell with furniture.

From 1960 to 2020, the field of AI has both seen tremendous sprints of progress and strenuous "AI winter" s. Headlines have always accompanied the many breakthroughs on how computers are becoming intelligent and will soon surpass humans, followed by pessimistic views on how limited the current technology is. Currently, the field is at its highest point ever, yet, no signs of a general form of intelligence have been achieved so far, neither has a conclusive definition of what intelligence is or consciousness should look like. For more than fifty years, the field has been chasing one of the most elusive target science has ever seen. For a long time, public opinion was that anything that could play chess well would be intelligent.

At present, we've looked into language, measure of problem complexity and Self-improvement realistically to some degree. It is very recently that we've started looking into randomness and creativity, and that is where the entire idea of making a career in AI comes. Creativity and inventiveness to solve real world complex problems with the help of AI that would otherwise be difficult for humans. Let us look into "intelligence" now, as this seems to be the central object on which AI persists on.