As the lunch bell rang on Thursday, Oct. 30, students filled the library, excited to compete in the Great Fake-Stopper Competition — a game of “AI or Real?” — in celebration of Media Literacy week.

Dubbed the “ultimate Media Literacy challenge” by the library, students competed by teaming up in pairs and testing their skills in a Kahoot game to distinguish real photos from Artificial Intelligence (AI). They battled to win the awaited prize from the library’s prize box.

“During lunch, we played a Kahoot game where one person was the researcher and one was the answerer,” Co-Librarian KatieAnn Prescott said. “They were looking up different images they found online, news articles that have been shared millions of times over again, and had to decide whether it was generated or not.”

To prepare for the challenges during lunch period, students received emails with quizzes focused on this theme, which were sent out on Monday through Wednesday. Developed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the “AI or Real?” quizzes were focused on pop culture, especially celebrities and sports stars.

“We thought it was more fun and engaging for students,” Instructional Technology (IT) Specialist Simone Deitch said. “The participation was great. They were having great conversations during and afterwards about what the calls were that made it look real or not.”

In the modern world of technology and chaos, it has become harder to tell the difference between fake information in the media. The librarians and Ms. Deitch recognized how it’s important to develop critical thinking when consuming media.

“That’s what the creators of the fake information are trying to do,” Ms. Prescott said. “To create some sort of reaction out of viewers. We want kids to practice those skills of not reacting to whatever is put out there and contributing to just perpetuating lies that are going on. We want to make sure that they look at things with a critical eye.”