Nizhny Novgorod schoolchildren were told about deepfakes as part of the "Digital Literacy" program.

      12 October 2025 12:04 Society

      At the beginning of the school year, the first lesson within the "Digital Literacy" project was held at Nizhny Novgorod Lyceum No. 36. Students learned about deepfakes — video and audio recordings created by artificial intelligence that imitate events that never happened. Such recordings often use the likenesses of well-known individuals.

      The director of the State Autonomous Institution of the Nizhny Novgorod Region "CIT," Vitaly Klimashov, told the pupils about the characteristics of deepfakes, how they are created and how to recognize them. The students examined examples of digital forgeries with characteristic signs: unnatural facial expressions, a mechanical voice, blurred images.

      The goal of the lesson is to teach children the basics of digital safety. Given that even younger schoolchildren use the internet, it is important that they follow basic rules and are able to recognize deepfakes that may be used by fraudsters.

      Klimashov noted that deepfakes were originally used in the film industry but have now become a tool for wrongdoers. He also explained how to spot fraudulent schemes and avoid becoming a victim.

      Students learned that deepfakes are created based on data from social networks. They actively asked questions about how neural networks and the technologies work.

      Methodological materials of the "Digital Literacy" project (6+) are available on the official website. It consists of a series of educational videos and materials explaining the basics of digital safety using simple examples.

      The project is being implemented as part of the national project "Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State" at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

      Recall that since the beginning of the year a record number of deepfakes — 342 cases — have been registered in Russia, four times the total for all of 2024. Most often the targets of deepfakes are governors and other civil servants — they account for 79% of all cases.

      For example, deepfakes featuring the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Gleb Nikitin, were detected seven times this year: we previously wrote about such videos in June, July and August.

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