DW Innovation

🗺️ Who will achieve global dominance in #AI?

For those who didn't catch it: Wesley Rahn’s DW report on American and Chinese strategies in the "AI race" – including a video report on whether Europe can catch up and a map on global AI diffusion.

👇
https://www.dw.com/en/where-is-the-us-china-ai-race-heading-in-2026/a-75608670

🤖 "I see a future in which trusted avatars continue to deliver information. Sometimes that avatar will be a real person. Sometimes it will be an AI version of a person, a digital twin, a stylized character, or some other embodied intelligence or entity."

In case you missed Cory Corrine's Nieman Lab Prediction for Journalism 2026:

➡️ https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-future-of-news-is-people-bots-and-the-avatars-we-trust/

#AI #Avatars #Information

The idea that scattering posts across the #internet under a fake name keeps you safe may no longer hold:

"If #LLMs' success in deanonymizing people improves, the researchers warn, governments could use the techniques to unmask online critics, corporations could assemble customer profiles for 'hyper-targeted advertising', and attackers could build profiles of targets at scale to launch highly personalized social engineering #scams."

Dan Goodin for @arstechnica@mastodon.social:

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https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/llms-can-unmask-pseudonymous-users-at-scale-with-surprising-accuracy/

There’s more and more evidence suggesting #LLMs judge dialect speakers – a lot. And in shocking ways.

Fintan Burke for DW about discrimination you may be confronted with when using #AI models:

👇
https://www.dw.com/en/ai-chatbots-are-alarmingly-biased-against-dialect-speakers/a-75247017

Remember SPOT?

That's the pretty useful geolocation tool we released a while ago (and continue to develop).

It helps you find specific places anywhere in the world – based on a simple, natural language description, OpenStreetMap data, and thoroughly tested AI algorithms.

The @opencage@en.osm.town community reached out to learn more, and Ruben Bouwmeester was happy to answer their questions.

Follow this link for the full interview:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-interview-dwinnovation

#verification #geolocation #OSINT #OSM #AI

Most of us know by know that people use #AI to "think out loud".

However: "When language comes back at you fast, coherent, and emotionally attuned, it feels like truth. Especially when you're tired. Or lonely. (…) And in those moments, something sneaky happens. You stop checking as carefully. Not with facts – but with yourself."

Erwin Lima's opinion piece on the "unexamined #authority" of AI plus some ideas for more conscious engagement with it:

https://hackernoon.com/how-to-navigate-identity-direction-story-and-sovereignty-in-the-age-of-ai

(via @hackernoon@mas.to)

LLMs hallucinate – but not at the same rate. AA-Omniscience data reveals major differences between models and domains.

Well structured and worth checking out: https://artificialanalysis.ai/evaluations/omniscience

#AI #LLM #benchmark

🔔 New blogpost!

Another one of our projects ended:

@veraai@mastodon.online – which stands for „VERification Assisted by Artificial Intelligence“.

Anna Schild and @jospang@mas.to (Jochen Spangenberg) tell us all about it:

👇
https://innovation.dw.com/articles/completing-vera-ai

#verification #AI

🤩 Here’s some good news for the weekend: Alvin Chang made a “happy map” for The Pudding.

“In 2017, more than 10.000 people tracked experiences that made them happy as part of a research project."

From coffee and college to healthy relationships – find out what makes people the happiest with this nicely made, interactive map:

👇
https://pudding.cool/2026/02/happy-map/

🗓️ Mark your calendars for the TEMS online #workshop on...

...reusing #3D heritage #models in #media:

March 24 | 10:30-12:00 CET.

More details and free registration:

👇
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfavJHXGOAmZBQjQdETnQ8o2unJ-89WRJ5QBNFrJIA0a4oSYg/viewform

"Politicians and even police have learned they can dismiss photos and videos as fake. (…) the pattern is now familiar: deny, invoke AI, move on."

Adam Rose’s opinion piece for Poynter on how the greatest danger posed by AI is the "collapse of trust in real evidence" – and what journalists could do about it:

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https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/the-real-threat-of-ai-is-the-collapse-of-trust-deepfakes/

#AI #Trust

"AI-assisted design is reshaping advertising, entertainment, and social media at a vertiginous pace. And yet, take a look at the web offerings of the world's major media organizations, and you'll find something surprising: a profession that has embraced automation in almost every other corner of its workflow remains deeply – and perhaps wisely – resistant to letting AI generate the images it uses to tell stories."

New blog post by @lxplm@mastodon.social:

https://innovation.dw.com/articles/the-visual-ai-revolution-that-isnt-yet

#AI #images #journalism

"Social media is becoming less social and more like a background habit."

It may not apply as much to our little corner of the internet here, but have you noticed people generally posting less on social media – and quietly observing more?

Devendra Chande shares his thoughts on why that is for @hackernoon@mas.to:

https://hackernoon.com/why-we-post-less-on-social-media-but-scroll-more

#SocialMedia

"It's going to be like chocolate. Most of the chocolate we consume in the world is mass-produced. There's going to be chocolate that's artisanal, that's special, that people are willing to pay for. I suspect that's what's going to happen to writing as well."

In case you missed it: Four Nieman fellows tell us about #AI and #journalism.

👇
https://niemanreports.org/ai-research-risks-journalism-artificial-intelligence-nieman-foundation-fellows/

Here's a #funding opportunity for newsrooms, media organisations, and communication pros in the Asia-Pacific region:

WAN-IFRA and climateXchange are launching a new #climate culture innovation grant.

Pitch close: 11 March, 2026.

👇
https://www.climatexc.org/grants/ccjpitchstage

In an interview with MediaConnect, our colleague Mirko Lorenz provides insights into the goals and technological direction of ChatEurope. This new platform combines a media content hub, an AI-powered chatbot, and social media channels to offer citizens reliable answers to their questions on European issues.

https://mediaconnect.com/chateurope-press-release-interview-with-mirko-lorenz?lang=en

#EU #AI #media #journalism

#Starlink, part of Elon Musk's SpaceX, has become a vital #internet lifeline in countries where #connectivity is cut off or censored – as seen in Iran and Ukraine.

"But the system carries a structural risk: access ultimately depends on decisions by its owner."

Ralph Martin for DW: https://www.dw.com/en/how-reliable-is-starlink-as-a-wartime-communications-line/video-75588963

“I believe our website is a necessity in our current political climate. It should have existed before, when I and millions of other girls who grew up playing games were made to feel out of place by #media and advertising that was laser-focused on teenage boys.“

🎮 Zoe Hannah and Maddy Myers founded "The Mothership", a #feminist gender and identity-focused, subscription-based #gaming publication.

Myers herself for The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/jan/26/why-im-launching-a-feminist-video-games-website-in-2026-mothership

Using real-time volumetric streaming, the BBC created a browser-based concert experience:

"Inside the virtual venue users appear as an avatar, and it feels like watching a photorealistic performance."

Claire Buckingham on how they did it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/articles/2025-12-immersive-interactive-live-music-experiences/

#immersive #music

If you rather listen to a snappy #podcast than reading a long report, check out this "Future of #News" production.

For roughly 30 minutes, Mitali Mukherjee and Nic Newman discuss how leaders in #media and #journalism respond to major #challenges in 2026 (e.g. #AI news creators or alternative #formats).

👇
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/our-podcast-what-should-we-expect-journalism-2026