CREDS members attend Trustworthy Digital Society Event

On Friday, 14 June 2024, several members of CREDS attended the Trustworthy Digital Society (TDS) event at UNSW. This event launched the TDS, as a shared endeavour between UTS and UNSW, with former state minister Victor Dominello as the director.

The purpose of the event was to bring together government, industry and academia to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in ensuring that citizens can exist in a digital environment that his characterised by high levels of trust. This has proven to be a particular challenge given the rise of artificial intelligence tools that can be used to create deepfakes, images that appear to be real, and misinformation and disinformation.

For CREDS, a central aspect of developing this trust is related to how people learn about these tools and how they are used. Therefore, education in a digital society is vital. Centre Director, Keith Heggart, said, ‘We are seeing more, and more sophisticated, examples of misinformation being spread throughout the civil and digital sphere. This has a detrimental effect upon our government institutions, and ultimately, our democracy.’

The members from CREDS are now considering various research agendas to explore this space with a view to informing the work of TDS.