U.S. Department of State Grant: Building Capacity to Counter AI-Generated Disinformation in Iraqi Kurdistan

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The U.S. Consulate General in Erbil of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a program to build capacity among social media influencers, journalists, and journalism students in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR) and Kirkuk governorate. Please follow all instructions below.

Priority Region: Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Priority will be given to projects which include audiences from outside the three major cities of Erbil, Duhok and Sulaimani.  

Program Objectives: 

The rise of AI-generated disinformation poses significant concerns to the ability of the public and media to fairly and accurately report on current events, given the ability of bots to spread information, and deepfakes to make it extraordinarily difficult to tell truth from fiction – putting democracy itself at risk. This program will train 15 social media influencers and 100 newly minted journalists (fewer than 5 years of service) or journalism students on how AI is used to produce and disseminate disinformation, how to recognize disinformation, and how to explain this in clear language to their audiences without scare tactics, in a way that empowers audiences rather than demoralizes them. Influencers should, as a result, create at least two pieces of unique content on disinformation for their audiences; journalists and journalism students should write and publish at least two stories on disinformation.  

Participants and Audiences:

This program envisions two separate trainings: one focused on 15 significant social media influencers (minimum numbers of followers to be determined), and one for 100 journalism students or journalists with fewer than 5 years of service.