Berlin launches AI tool to help locals fact check election posts

The state of Berlin is encouraging locals to use a new AI tool to fact check online posts about the upcoming state election on September 20.

Berlin gov’t announces Gretchen AI tool

Berlin’s Interior Minister Iris Spranger (SPD) and State Returning Officer Stephan Bröchler have announced a new tool to counteract online mis- and disinformation ahead of the city state election on September 20.

Berliners who stumble upon an Instagram, TikTok or X post giving information about the state election, which they suspect is false, can share the post in a direct message to the @Gretchen_AI_Berlin Instagram account.

The AI tool then analyses the picture or video and searches the internet for original sources and further context. Between 40 seconds and one minute later the tool creates a summary of what it has found. “What you do with this [summary], is up to you,” a Gretchen AI video explains.

“And another thing, Gretchen doesn’t tell you who you should vote for,” the video continues. “It is simply an orientation guide, not a herald of truth, and does not replace carefully researched journalism”.

Gretchen already used in Rhineland-Palatinate

Announcing the tool, Bröchler said Germany must do more to fight online mis- and disinformation surrounding elections before long-term damage is done.

“We are facing a problem of disinformation, particularly on social media, against which we must prepare ourselves, and where we do not want to wait until such damage actually occurs,” Bröchler said.

This isn’t the first time state governments have pointed residents in Gretchen’s direction. The tool was also made available to residents in Rhineland-Palatinate before the state election in March.

The tool, developed by a spin-off company of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), is named after the “Gretchenfrage” (Gretchen question). A “Gretchenfrage” is a question which is difficult but essential to ask, and refers to a line in Goethe’s Faust. 

Faust makes a pact with the devil and enlists his help to pursue Margarete (also known by the diminutive Gretchen). Gretchen is having second thoughts about her suitor and asks Faust, “Now tell me, what do you think about religion?”