An artificial intelligence approach to automated detection of fluoride-related misinformation on social media

• Grant number: 21/10732-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2022
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Social and Preventive Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Thiago Cruvinel da Silva
• Grantee: Matheus Lotto de Almeida Souza
• Supervisor: Plinio Pelegrini Morita
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru (FOB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Bauru , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of Waterloo, Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/27242-0 - Fake news in health: the validation of a neural network model for detection of disinformation in Pediatric Dentistry through psychophysiological reactions of internet users, BP.DR

Abstract

The online health information seeking behavior is increasingly growing supported by the digital hyperconnectivity associated with the need of people to direct efforts to management of their own health. In this context, dental-related misleading information is frequently present on social media, highlighting fluoride. It has particular consequences concerning the development of beliefs that negatively impact the oral health behaviors of people. Hence, the development of tools to identify distinct fluoride-related misinformation on social media, besides support people in the consumption of trustworthy information is desirable. This project aims to develop and evaluate AI-based (artificial intelligence) approach to automatized detection of fluoride-related misinformation on social media. The datasets will be collected via Twitter API. The training, validation, and testing of semi-supervised topic modeling will be performed in Python. After the validation and tests of models, their accuracies and false-positives will be determined aiming the selection of the best performance model for detection of misinformation related to fluoride. (AU)