Call for participants: RAN Practitioners Communications & Narratives meeting on ‘AI: understanding and opportunities for P/CVE practitioners’, 27-28 February 2024.

This is a face-to-face meeting taking place on 27 and 28 February 2024. The location is still to be decided, but it will be fairly accessible, within one of the EU Member States. Once the location has been determined, we will inform those who have already registered and update the registration form for new registrants.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been developing rapidly in recent years. The development of new tools bringing advantages to society is as fast as the development of their abuse and the interconnected disadvantages. In February 2024, the RAN C&N Working Group will discuss how to use AI from the practitioners’ perspective and which opportunities it can offer to the practical side of their work. P/CVE practitioners from law enforcement, the social and educational sector as well as from the communications and tech sector are invited to speak about their experiences and future plans of using AI to prevent radicalisation and counter extremism.

After speaking about a specific type of the application of AI in 2022 (What’s going on online? Dealing with potential use of deepfakes by extremists) and about the legal frameworks that aim to combat hate speech and extremism online (‘The future of online extremism and P/CVE: the DSA and other ways of dealing with future technological developments’, conclusion paper to be published soon), in 2024 the RAN Practitioners Working Group on Communications & Narratives will organise a meeting specifically aimed at the way AI can be used for good. To name a few possibilities: using AI to promote democratic values, to foster critical thinking, to raise awareness in the general public, to detect hate speech related to radicalisation or to build (online) campaigns.

The essence of AI compared to ‘regular’ computing is that AI systems are being ‘trained’ and are able to ‘learn’ from their experience. In that way, AI tools can be seen as self-reinforcing and self-improving tools. For instance, the developments from different versions of ChatGPT are huge, and the next one is expected to be a tenfold improvement over the current version.

We are witnessing a rapid evolution of the application of AI for a multitude of tasks. First, large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT are able to assist in writing or translating content and finding new pathways to reach one’s goals. These models can also help process loads of information, for instance to detect and analyse online dynamics. Second, AI image generators are able to create powerful images or videos that communicate the message of the users in an appealing way. Third, AI is used for voice recognition so spoken text can be analysed easier. It could also be transformed into spoken text in another language. Moreover, when combined with video creation/manipulation, it is possible to ‘translate’ videos from one language to another with the click of a mouse. Platforms enable the possibility to create AI-generated videos, and their features may be utilised to create deepfakes.

These diverse applications of AI will be combined more and more frequently in the near future. AI chatbots are capable of doing textual work and analyses, but they are also capable of generating images as they go. Moreover, the aforementioned translation of videos requires the cooperation of different AI-supported functions. As these tools will merge, their successors will be able to do more with every new version and integration in the most frequently used computer tools. 

The EU is working on the Artificial Intelligence Act. With this act they want to implement some rules and regulations around the development and usage of AI in the EU. For example, it will limit the use of biometric identification systems by law enforcement. While discussing the potential usage of AI in P/CVE in the EU, the impact of these AI regulations also needs to be taken into account. 

Instead of focusing on the threats the misuse of these tools poses to our democratic societies and to P/CVE work, we will talk about the (potential) use of AI to prevent and counter radicalisation and extremism.

Relevant questions:

• What is the current state of AI technology and how do we prepare for future scenarios of AI development? What opportunities are there for AI to be used to prevent and counter violent extremism?
• What are the potential benefits of using AI over traditional methods/technologies? How could online AI-based P/CVE interventions complement more traditional interventions or online interventions that do not use AI?
• What are some challenges to tackle in implementing the usage of AI in P/CVE work? How can they be overcome?
• What will the impact of EU AI regulation be on the use of AI in P/CVE?

Target group

For the RAN Practitioners C&N Working Group meeting on ‘AI: understanding and opportunities for P/CVE practitioners’, we are looking for first-line practitioners and (academic) experts who are interested in participating in the meeting.

Please note that this is a face-to-face event and requires travel. Your travel will be arranged by RAN, but do keep in mind that it will take time. By registering, you confirm your availability and willingness to travel for this meeting.

For this meeting we are looking for:

• P/CVE practitioners from diverse backgrounds (such as law enforcement, youth work, social work, exit/rehabilitation work, prison work, local governments, etc.) who have been experimenting with the use of AI to support them in their work.
• Practitioners from the C&N constituency who are experienced in dealing with disinformation, promoting media literacy, counternarrative and alternative narrative campaigns and communications, and have experience in using AI to assist them.
• Experts on technological developments in online communications.
• Experts from (big) tech and social media companies as well as from smaller tech companies who have experience in instrumentalising AI tools on their platform to deal with extremist and/or polarising content.

Background information:

This meeting builds upon the outcomes of the RAN C&N Working Group meetings ‘What’s going on online? Dealing with potential use of deepfakes by extremists’ (10 & 11 November 2022, Helsinki, Finland) and ‘The future of online extremism and P/CVE: the DSA and other ways of dealing with future technological developments’ (link to the conclusion paper will be published soon via this page). 

Background documents/websites:

• McKinsey (August 2023)  ‘State of AI in 2023’
• UNICRI & UNCCT (2021) ‘Countering Terrorism Online with Artificial Intelligence’

Deadline and practical information

If you are interested in participating in this meeting, please fill out the questionnaire.

Deadline: Please complete and submit the questionnaire no later than Monday 10 January. We will invite participants (and contributors) based on the answers given and the order of registration.