The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi has introduced a new tool to help identify persuasion tactics in media reports.
The tool goes by the acronym Frappe – framing, persuasion and propaganda explorer. It was developed by Preslav Nakov, professor and chairman of natural language processing at the university, the world's first higher-learning institution dedicated to AI.
"It was developed together with the European Commission, and a number or journalists and research institutions across Europe," Prof Nakov, who has a long history in the field of disinformation analysis, explained in a video posted to MBZUAI's social media accounts.
"To the policymakers and journalists, it offers the opportunity to study and compare different countries, different languages, different media, and to the general user it offers a very useful media literacy tool."
Frappe allows users to paste the URL link or text from any news article and provides insights as to how those pieces are framed.
It also offers an analysis of the persuasion techniques and provides users with the ability to compare and contrast various persuasion styles used in countries throughout the world, with framing classifications including political, economic, morality, fairness, crime and security.
"You can see a visualisation of 2.5 million articles across 186 countries along with very cool visualisation tools," Lara Hassan, an MBZUAI student, said in the video.
MBZUAI said the Frappe tool has been presented at the Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics.
Frappe started as an undergraduate research internship programme several years ago and has since been developed by researchers around the world, MBZUAI said.
The tool's data set is 1,600 articles in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Russian, though it has the ability to process reports in more than 100 languages.
MBZUAI said researchers hope to expand the training data set and enhance Frappe's accuracy as development continues.
Prof Nakov pointed out the nuance of persuasive language, explaining that although its use need not necessarily be viewed as a negative, it can be abused to misinform, especially with the involvement of AI and fake social media accounts.
"We have seen machine-generated content put online with the purpose to deceive," he said. "We see fully automatic websites for fake news. And I anticipate more fully automatic multimedia content in the future.”
MBZUAI was first announced in 2019, as AI developments continued to generate excitement after years of research in various technology and academic circles. The university opened in 2020.
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Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
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Key developments in maritime dispute
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.
Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.
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Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
