SYNTHETIC REALITIES

Understanding AI-generated visual vaccine misinformation

Dr Sam Martin is a UKRI Smart Data Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, investigating how AI-generated visual misinformation shapes public vaccine discourse.

Her fellowship develops Synthetic Discourse Analysis (SDA), a new methodology integrating AI detection tools with qualitative discourse analysis and community-participatory methods.

The project tracks how synthetic content enters, spreads, and disrupts health conversations across six major platforms, and works with affected communities to build resilience.

Funded by ESRC through Smart Data Research UK, 2026-2027.

TikTok AI Twitter/X BlueSky AI Instagram AI Facebook YouTube is this real? AI generated! looks fake 2.4k SDA Synthetic Discourse Analysis AUTHENTIC Genuine visual discourse SYNTHETIC AI-generated imagery discourse

Smart Data Research UK Fellow: Manchester Metropolitan (Funded by: ESRC/UKRI) | Senior Research Fellow: University of Oxford | Honorary Fellow: UCL RREAL Lab

Stay in the Loop

New workshops, free resources, and methods insights.