Everyday encounters with deepfakes: young people’s media and information literacy practices with AI-generated media

Purpose This research aims to contribute to the knowledge related to youth’s media and information literacy (MIL) practices when encountering artificial intelligence (AI)-generated media in their everyday life. It specifically examines young people’s engagement with and understanding of deepfakes, seeking to explore their practices for navigating deepfakes in a daily setting. Design/methodology/approach Employing a qualitative research strategy, in-depth interviews were conducted to collect empirical material from 20 young participants aged 14–15 years. The empirical data were coded both inductively and deductively, leading to the identification of young people’s doings and sayings as they encounter, respond to and understand deepfakes. Findings The findings highlight the young participants’ serendipitous exposure to, and subsequent engagement with, deepfake content in their everyday lives, particularly through the situations, platforms and types of content in which these encounters occurred. While interaction with deepfake content was mostly characterized as casual, there are also more active responses to encountering deepfakes. Additionally, the results shed light on the participants’ understandings of deepfakes, particularly in terms of content creation, societal impact and underlying AI techniques. This understanding is proposed as a critical sub-element within the MIL framework in this study. Originality/value This study stresses the complexities of young people’s everyday MIL practices with emerging media, pointing to the inherent challenges they face in navigating an increasingly complicated information landscape.