(NewsNation) — As artificial intelligence continues to become more involved in people’s everyday lives, the country of Finland is taking steps to make children knowledgeable early on the topic.
The Nordic nation announced it has added AI literacy to its school curriculum to help children recognize fake news, or “deepfakes.”
The new tool is being provided to children as young as three years old.
“We think that having good media literacy skills is a very big civic skill,” said pedagogical specialist Kiia Hakkala. ‘It’s very important to the nation’s safety and to the safety of our democracy.”
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Part of the new curriculum is Finland’s desire to make its citizens more resistant to propaganda and false claims, similar to how Russia stepped up its disinformation campaign across Europe following its invasion of Ukraine.
“When citizens can no longer agree on what is real, institutions weaken and trust erodes. Debate collapses into noise,” said author Ahmed Fessi. “AI accelerates this risk. Especially as we move toward more autonomous systems, where content generation, amplification, and targeting can happen with minimal human intervention. Teaching critical thinking early is a major pillar to protect citizens and democracy.”
Finland’s educational curriculum has taught media literacy since the 1990s. They say additional courses are available for older adults who might be susceptible to misinformation.
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