NEWS YOU CAN’T MISS

The Fight Against Fake News

In Finland, learning how to spot fake news starts almost as early as learning to read.

For decades, the Nordic country has taught media literacy as part of its national curriculum, beginning with children as young as 3.

Early lessons are simple: students learn to tell the difference between ads and news, understand that headlines can be misleading, and talk about why someone might want to influence them.

In primary school, students compare headlines from different sources, fact-check viral claims, and practice asking basic questions like Who made this?, Why was it shared?, and What’s missing?

Now, Finland is updating that approach for a new threat: AI deepfakes.

Students are being taught how AI can create realistic-looking images, videos, and voices - and what clues might signal something isn’t real. Teachers show examples of manipulated photos and videos, discuss how AI tools work at a basic level, and encourage students to pause before trusting or sharing content.

It’s a wider approach: In 2024, every 15-year-old in the country received an “ABC Book of Media Literacy” as they entered upper secondary school. Media literacy courses are also offered to adults, who experts say can be just as vulnerable as children.

The results show: Finland consistently ranks at the top of Europe’s Media Literacy Index, a measure of how well citizens can identify false or misleading information.

(Source: Euronews with AP)

Still Waiting on Your Prescription?

Utah is testing whether AI can fix one of healthcare’s most frustrating chores: prescription renewals.

State officials have approved a pilot program that lets an AI system handle routine refill requests for patients with chronic conditions. The goal: make refills faster, reduce paperwork, and keep doctors focused on higher-risk care - without putting patients at risk.

Prescription renewals are one of healthcare’s quiet bottlenecks: In the US, a routine refill can take up to three days to approve - requests bounce between phone calls, portals, and pharmacies.

Meanwhile, 27% of patients say they’ve run out of medication while waiting, and 1 in 4 have considered switching doctors because of refill hassles.

Here’s how Utah’s system will work:

• The AI (built by health tech startup Doctronic) is being tested under a state-run “regulatory sandbox.” This means the company is allowed to trial it while the state closely monitors how it performs and steps in if problems arise.

• The system reviews a patient’s existing treatment plan, checks that a refill matches what the doctor originally prescribed, and scans for dangerous drug interactions.

• If everything checks out, the refill is approved, without waiting days for manual review.

Doctronic says its system matched physicians’ decisions about 99% of the time across 500 urgent cases. Still, the program is limited: Only 190 commonly prescribed medications are eligible - if the system detects uncertainty, the request is referred to a human physician. The pilot will run for 12 months.

(Source: Erin Alberty reporting for Axios)

Buy an Anime Girl for Your Desk?

So apparently you can now put an anime character on your desk.

Singaporean tech company Razer has unveiled Project Ava, a tiny holographic figure designed to sit beside your keyboard and… pay attention. It looks like a small anime character floating inside a glass capsule, but it’s more than a decoration.

Project Ava can see what’s on your screen, hear you when you talk, and even look back at you through a webcam. It’s meant to answer questions, give gaming tips while you play, help with brainstorming, and occasionally comment on what you’re doing.

You can choose different avatars (an anime “waifu,” a muscular anime guy, or a glowing orb) and Razer says more characters could arrive later.