Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

Although artificial intelligence is being used in many positive ways to help people, there are also worries about how it’s being used to manipulate us, chiefly through our engagement on the internet and in particular on social media. AI algorithms now have access to an enormous amount of information on the users of these sites, information that is being collected and used in sophisticated ways to influence our buying habits and political views, often with some form of targeted misinformation. But is everything labelled as ‘misinformation’ really false information, or is it sometimes simply a different opinion that could turn out to be true? Can AI actually identify misinformation, or are real people needed for that? Jonathan speaks with AI expert Mária Bieliková about these and other questions. Are you trying to learn Slovak or some other language? Lýdia Machová – a language teacher who speaks nine languages herself – has some tips for you, in particular how to recognise the crucial difference between expecting to be taught a language, and actively learning one.