ZAGREB, 10 April (Hina) - The exhibition "Unveiling Algorithms: How They Shape Our Digital World", organised by the Association for Communication and Media Culture, was opened at the National and University Library in Zagreb as part of Media Literacy Days.
On this occasion, a roundtable discussion on the topic was also held.
The issues surrounding algorithms are not only scientific and technical but also moral and ethical, as they relate to the education of children and future generations, said Momir Karin, head of the Division for Support and Improvement of the Education System at the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth.
Teacher Jadranka Dorešić from Ivan Švear High School in Ivanić-Grad highlighted that students "are not aware of the dangers" of using artificial intelligence in schools and often fail to notice mistakes that, for example, ChatGPT generates, which undermines the purpose of the lessons. "Students don't even know what they've written for homework," she said.
Juraj Petrović from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing explained that machine learning techniques typically rely on large amounts of data, but not on facts.
Igor Kanižaj, Vice-President of the Society for Communication and Media Culture, warns that more work is needed on fostering critical thinking among children, as they "know very little" about social media applications, despite using them intensively.
"Children don't understand how these social networks work, what tools drive them, or how content is generated," he said.
Regarding copyright protection, Jelena Sekulić from the State Intellectual Property Office stated that not much attention is paid to these rights, especially in China and the USA, but some tools are already blocking instructions for copying. She added that copyright and artificial intelligence are not in conflict.
"They can coexist, but it's important to preserve human creativity so that compensation is given for works on which artificial intelligence has been trained, and to ensure there is significant human contribution in guiding the artificial intelligence, so it is not just pure imitation. Popular tools already block instructions like 'copy three pages of Harry Potter' because it constitutes a violation of copyright," Sekulić explained.
The exhibition includes a segment called "The Knowledge Maze", which educates visitors about recommendation algorithms, their biases, chatbots, generative artificial intelligence, metadata, attention economy, synthetic media, and other topics.
Visitors will have the opportunity to test artificial intelligence tools live, take a quiz focused on acquiring algorithmic literacy, and play a video game designed to teach knowledge, skills, and habits for using social media and artificial intelligence tools.
This exhibition has been made possible through the international project ALGOWATCH and was organised in collaboration with the Association for Communication and Media Culture, the National and University Library in Zagreb, the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs, and the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth. It will run through 16 April, and after its closure, materials will be available for display in schools, libraries, and museums.
