The ihri team representing the KonCheck project at Ladenburg!

The ihri team representing the KonCheck project at Ladenburg!

The Daimler und Benz Stiftung (https://www.linkedin.com/company/daimler-und-benz-stiftung) - who supports our research project on AI-based tools against information disorder KonCheck (https://ihri.reha.tu-dortmund.de/research/projects/koncheck/) - invited us to their 40 year anniversary celebration on 24.07. in Ladenburg.

Kirill Kronhardt and Jens Gerken were part of the “Knowledge Campus” showcase representing projects and people the Daimler und Benz Stiftung supports. The projects were very diverse in what they covered, among others ranging from projects like a game for diagnosing the level of speech of children through the “WUSCHEL-App” (https://wuschel-app.de/) , to environmental and oil microbiology work by Lisa Voskuhl (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-voskuhl-ba8666281/).

We represented KonCheck with a live demo of an extended version of our FallacyCheck browser extension (https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3771882.3774253), an educational game courtesy of our partners at the Cloud Resilience Lab (https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloud-resilience-lab/ ), and a poster on the challenges in communicating fact-checking messages courtesy of our TU Dortmund colleagues at CHIP (https://chip.reha.tu-dortmund.de/).

Afterwards, there was a stage program with a beautiful reenactment of Bertha Benz preparing for the first long distance drive, speeches about the history and goals of the foundation, and a keynote on freedom of scientific discovery by  Professor of Extragalactic Astrophysics Dominika Wylezalek (https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-dr-dominika-wylezalek-687454b1/) who told us about - among other things - the "Very Large Telescope" and the upcoming… "Exteremely Large Telescope".

We had fantastic discussions at our booth. Attendees were highly interested in KonCheck’s multifaceted approach to fighting information disorder—from browser extensions to educational games. A major takeaway was the importance of our "multiplier" strategy: getting these tools into schools and the hands of journalists to reach those who might not actively seek them out on their own - but might nonetheless be susceptible to information disorder. Of course there were also critical voices, especially regarding AI ethics and the biases inherent in the AI models we use. Addressing these valid concerns was challenging but an incredibly fun and insightful exchange.

Overall, it was a great event that sparked great conversations we will carry forward into our research. Thank you Daimler und Benz Stiftung for having us!