NUS Centre for Trusted Internet and Community

04/07/2025

🎙️ 3 in 4 people in Singapore can’t tell a deepfake from the real thing — yet most are confident they can.

With AI-generated deepfakes getting more convincing, the risks of scams and misinformation are growing fast. Associate Professor Terence Sim spoke with Money FM 89.3 about why overconfidence leaves us vulnerable — and what individuals, tech platforms, and policymakers can do to stay ahead.

His key message:
✔️ Deepfake detection is getting harder
✔️ Public awareness and cyber hygiene are essential
✔️ A whole-of-nation approach is needed to counter deepfake threats

🎧 Listen to the full interview to learn more about safeguarding against scams and misinformation. https://bit.ly/3Icj7pm

3 out of 4 people in Singapore can’t tell a deepfake from the real thing, even though most are confident they can. That’s one of the eye-opening findings from the Cyber Security Agency’s latest survey, which also reveals that while more Singaporeans are adopting cyber hygiene habits like insta...

01/07/2025

🌍 Join the Conversation at UN WSIS 2025! 🌍

We invite you to take part in the upcoming UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2025, Session 222: "Information Society at Times of Risk", organised by RIMMA CoE in cooperation with CAST-CCIT. The session will explore how the Information Society navigates risks and crises — from natural disasters to technological disruptions and humanitarian challenges.

Professor Audrey Yue, Assistant Professor Jun Yu, and Dr. Renae Loh from our CTIC team will be part of this international roundtable discussion, bringing their expertise to the table.

The roundtable is open for both on-site and remote participation, providing a unique opportunity to hear from global experts and contribute to this important dialogue.

🗓️ Date: 11 July 2025
📍 Location: Geneva, Switzerland & Online
🔗 Register to join: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2025/Agenda/Session/222

13/06/2025

🎉Congratulations to Dr. Eka Nugraha Putra on the launch of his latest book, Free Speech in Indonesia: Legal Issues and Public Interest Litigation, published as part of the Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series.

The book examines how Indonesia’s Criminal Code (KUHP) and the Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE Law) define and limit the space for free expression—particularly in cases involving defamation and hate speech. Through legal analysis and real case studies, Dr. Putra explores the tension between Indonesia’s international human rights commitments and the increasing restrictions on civil liberties.

A thoughtful read for anyone interested in Southeast Asia, human rights, and media law. 👉 https://bit.ly/4kw1LSz

05/06/2025

Excited to share our work presented at : TART: An Open-Source Tool-Augmented Framework for Explainable Table-based Reasoning, led by Xinyuan Lu, with Prof. Preslav Nakov, Assoc. Prof. Kan Min-Yen, and team.

Working with tables is still a challenge for many LLMs, especially when it comes to structure understanding and precise numerical reasoning. We introduce TART, a tool-augmented framework that enhances LLMs with:

🗂️ A Table Formatter for accurate data representation
🔧 A Tool Maker to generate task-specific computational tools
💡 An Explanation Generator to ensure transparency in reasoning

We also introduce TOOLTAB, a new benchmark designed to train LLMs specifically for tool integration with tables. In our experiments, TART paired with CodeLlama hits 90% of GPT-3.5-turbo’s performance — and the resources are available for the research community.

🔗 GitHub: github.com/XinyuanLu00/TART
📄 Paper: aclanthology.org/2025.findings-naacl.244.pdf

16/05/2025

🎉 That’s a wrap on the inaugural Information Gyroscope Symposium on Mis-, Dis-, and Mal-Information (iGYRO SMDM) 2025 hosted by CTIC at NUS!

We welcomed over 100 researchers, policymakers, technologists, legal scholars, and the public to explore the urgent challenges of misinformation in the digital age. From thought-provoking keynotes by Prof. Preslav Nakov and Prof. Jeannie Paterson, to cutting-edge demos like SNIFFER and M3CHECK, and insightful oral presentations by our iGYRO researchers — the day was packed with bold ideas and rich discussions.

Swipe through some highlights from our panel, research talks, and demos and posters session!🎥 Stay tuned – video highlights and presentation slides will be available soon.

This project is supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its MOE AcRF Tier 3 Grant. For more details, visit our iGYRO project page at https://ctic.nus.edu.sg/igyro/.

09/05/2025

A truly inspiring two-day workshop at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS! Organised by Asst. Prof. Araz Taeihagh, together with his co-editors Prof. Simon Chesterman and Prof. Audrey Yue, the workshop gathered contributing authors from around the world for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Misinformation and Disinformation.

The Handbook will examine how the internet, social media, and mobile technologies have reshaped the way information is produced, shared, and consumed. As content is increasingly driven by algorithms and commercial incentives, the lines between journalism, marketing, and entertainment are becoming ever more blurred, while public trust in information continues to decline.

The workshop brought together academics from across disciplines—law, communications, and computer science—to share research and ideas for their chapters. Thought-provoking discussions reflected the urgency and complexity of tackling misinformation and disinformation in today’s digital landscape.

This Handbook is part of our Information Gyroscope ( ) project with publication expected in 2026. In the meantime, explore our interactive map on global legislation addressing misinformation and 'fake news':
🌐 https://ctic.nus.edu.sg/igyro/demo-legislative-map.html
🌐 https://ctic.nus.edu.sg/igyro/

24/04/2025

With GE2025 approaching, cybersecurity is a major focus. In a recent CNA interview, Prof. Simon Chesterman shares how AI and digital manipulation could shake public trust in the electoral process. As deepfakes and misinformation become easier to produce, the real challenge lies in maintaining trust—where people may be misled by falsehoods or become so skeptical that they dismiss even accurate information. Both scenarios risk weakening democratic participation.

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore is stepping up efforts to protect election systems, but safeguarding democracy also calls for public vigilance and digital literacy.

🎥 Watch the video: https://bit.ly/3Go76wb

The upcoming election could see cyber threats becoming a major issue. Candidates and voters have been cautioned to look out for cyberattacks that could disru...

23/04/2025

The Special Issue of Policy and Society on Governance of Generative AI is now available: https://academic.oup.com/policyandsociety/issue/44/1

This special issue explores the legal, political, and societal dimensions of generative AI, offering timely insights into regulation, platform accountability, data governance, and intellectual property. Edited by Asst. Prof. Araz Taeihagh, the issue brings together insights from its preceding workshop, which he also organised with support from the Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) project at NUS CTIC.

We’re proud to share that Asst. Prof. Araz Taeihagh, Prof. Simon Chesterman, and Dr. Shaleen Khanal are among the contributors. Their articles examine the governance challenges of GenAI, the growing influence of Big Tech in policymaking, and the evolving role of intellectual property in the age of machine-generated content.

Read their work:
🔹 Governance of Generative AI: https://academic.oup.com/policyandsociety/article/44/1/1/7997395
🔹 Why and how is the power of Big Tech increasing in the policy process: https://academic.oup.com/policyandsociety/article/44/1/52/7636223
🔹 Good models borrow, great models steal: https://academic.oup.com/policyandsociety/article/44/1/23/7606572

Continue the conversation with us at the iGYRO Symposium on Mis-, Dis-, and Mal-Information on April 28. Sign up here: https://igyro-nus.github.io/

07/04/2025

We were delighted to have Dennis Yap, founder of AI Seer, share his insights on Facticity.AI, an award-winning AI-driven fact-checking tool, at our recent session!

Dennis explored the evolving challenges of misinformation across diverse domains including healthcare, media bias, and academic research. He demonstrated how Facticity.AI leverages real-time verification and multilingual capabilities in identifying falsehoods. More importantly, he underscored the critical need for traceability and explainability, particularly in high-stakes fields like medicine and law.

👉 This resonated with what CTIC’s Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) is all about—developing solutions across the digital information pipeline to address these challenges head-on. By integrating insights from consumer behaviour, technology, law, and policy, we aim to build a more transparent and accountable digital ecosystem. We’re excited about the possibilities and look forward to future collaborations to drive innovation in misinformation detection and resilience. Learn more: https://ctic.nus.edu.sg/igyro/

01/04/2025

In an era where digital skills are essential, schools are often seen as a key solution to bridging the digital skills divide. But can simply providing access to digital technology in schools close the gap?

In her latest piece on the LSE Media Blog, Dr. Renae Loh explores the complexities of this issue and shares the findings from her latest study. While access to technology in schools is important, she argues that it alone is not enough. Factors such as support from warm-experts like teachers and meaningful use of technology also impact students’ digital skills. Without these important social factors, merely providing digital resources may risk reinforcing inequalities rather than reducing them.

What does it take to ensure digital equity? Read the full article to find out! 🔗 https://bit.ly/3XAgMJH

Renae Sze Ming Loh explains what her study shows about whether the use of ICT in schools tends to decrease or increase the digital skills divide.

25/03/2025

We were delighted to host NUS President Prof. Tan Eng Chye at CTIC for an interactive showcase of the Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) project!

President Tan engaged hands-on with cutting-edge demos:
🔎 SNIFFER – Debunking out-of-context misinformation in a persuasive manner using this multimodal large language model, while also discussing the role of fact-checking systems in building long-term resilience.
🗣️ Multilingual QACheck – Entering real-world claim to experience how it performs through step-by-step reasoning for transparent, multilingual fact-checking.
📊 Digital Wellbeing Framework – Taking an online assessment to explore digital wellbeing through a first-of-its-kind digital wellbeing framework across key domains and digital citizenship.

His visit reinforced the importance of trusted AI, misinformation detection, and digital resilience. Grateful for his insights and support!

Learn more about iGYRO project: https://ctic.nus.edu.sg/igyro/