RT Journal Article
T1 Web search or conversation with an artificial intelligence? Analysis of misinformation and relevance in the case of radon gas
A1 Pascual Presa, Noel
A1 Fernández Pichel, Marcos
A1 Losada Carril, David Enrique
A1 García Orosa, Berta
K1 Misinformation
K1 Disinformation
K1 Communication
K1 Journalism
K1 Digital Communication
K1 Health
K1 Web Search
K1 Internet
K1 Health Information
K1 ChatGPT
K1 Radon
K1 Artificial Intelligence
K1 Big Data
K1 Conversational Agents
K1 Risk Communication
AB Health-related information plays a crucial role in public health management, empowering individuals to make informed decisions and adopt behaviours that mitigate the effects of potential risks. The internet and the emergence of new technologies, such as conversational models equipped with Artificial Intelligence, present opportunities, and challenges in this field. This research focuses specifically on the risk of radon, a natural radioactive gas recognised worldwide as one of the leading causes of lung cancer and a persistent threat over time. The aim of this study is to analyse the information provided for this specific risk by two key information access tools: web search engines and AI-based conversational agents (ChatGPT). To carry out this interdisciplinary research (journalism-communication-computer science) we employ a mixed methodological design (quantitative and qualitative) and apply methods from the areas of Information Retrieval (IR), Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The results of this study show that information on the internet about the risk of radon often lacks relevance and does not meet the information needs of users. We also found that some websites provide a significant amount of good quality information but there are often some misleading contents. ChatGPT proves to be more accurate in providing relevant and good quality information but contains a higher proportion of misinformation. Consequently, this raises concerns about the integrity of the information provided and emphasises the need to monitor and improve the accuracy of these computational tools
PB EPI SCP
SN 1386-6710
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/37558
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/37558
LA eng
NO Noel Pascual-Presa, Marcos Fernández-Pichel, David E. Losada, & Berta García-Orosa. (2024). Web Search or Conversation with an Artificial Intelligence? Analysis of Misinformation and Relevance in the Case of Radon Gas. Profesional De La información, 33(2). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2024.0220
NO This research is a result of the following R&D&I projects: 1.Digital native media in Spain: strategies, skills, social involvement and (re)definition of journalistic production and dissemination practices (PID2021-122534OB-C21), financed by MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and “FEDER A way of making Europe”. 2.Radon in Spain: public opinion perception, media agenda and risk communication (RAPAC) of the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (SUBV-13/2021). 3.Galician Department of Culture, Education, Vocational Training and Universities (accreditation 2019-2022 ED431G-2019/04,  ED431C  2022/19)  and  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund,  which  acknowledges  the  CiTIUS-Research Center in Intelligent Technologies of the University of Santiago de Compostela as a Research Center of the Galician University System. 4.PID2022-137061OB-C22   (Spanish   Ministry   of   Science   and   Innovation,   State   Research   Agency,   Knowledge Generation Projects; supported by the European Regional Development Fund).5.PLEC2021-007662   (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033,   Spanish   Ministry   of   Science   and   Innovation,   State Research Agency, Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, European Union-Next Generation EU)
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026