On April 28th, Hainan Tropical Ocean University and the Hainan Provincial Committee of China Democratic League hosted a special lecture titled “Media Literacy in the ChatGPT Era” to promote the importance of increasing media literacy in the age of generative AI. The distinguished guest speaker was Professor Bi Yantao from the School of Public Administration of Hainan University and Deputy Director of the Culture Committee of the Hainan Provincial Committee of China Democratic League.
Professor Bi emphasized the importance of journalism students updating their media literacy to help people understand the process and potential hazards of generative AI. He also discussed the risks of generative AI from domestic, international and human survival perspectives, introducing concepts such as cognitive security and epistemic injustice as a way to illustrate the risks of generative AI. Through reinterpreting the fables of “The Blind Men and the Elephant” and “The Allegory of the Cave,” Professor Bi was able to vividly explain the different forms and main causes of epistemic injustice.
Professor Bi encouraged people to upgrade their beliefs about knowledge and knowing, better understand epistemic principles, the nature of knowledge and its construction, and detect and effectively monitor and adjust their cognitive activities. Through this, it will be possible to optimize the configuration of information sources and enhance media literacy in the communication ecology of AI.
The Hainan Provincial Committee of China Democratic League’s Cultural Lecture Hall tour of 2023, at which this lecture was held, is a great platform for promoting media literacy in the era of ChatGPT. Head of the journalism curriculum group of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Dr. Li Su, also stressed the need for people to stay up to date on the potential impacts of AI development on the news industry. The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is continuing to organize activities and lectures related to media literacy and AI to help everyone keep up with the new communication ecology.
