Virginia Beach Students Learning Skills to Detect AI News Content

High schoolers develop strategies to identify AI-influenced media in their social feeds and news sources.

Feb. 5, 2026 at 6:23pm

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At Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach, students in an advanced journalism class are learning how to detect news content that has been influenced by artificial intelligence. As they work on their school newspaper, the students are developing methods to spot AI-generated text, images, and videos in their social media and news sources. The students are concerned about the growing impact of AI on modern media and the challenges it poses for verifying information, especially around breaking news events.

Why it matters

As AI technology rapidly advances, the ability to discern authentic news content from AI-generated material has become an increasingly critical skill, particularly for young media consumers. These high school students are getting an early start on developing strategies to combat the spread of misinformation and maintain trust in news sources.

The details

In the digital journalism class, students like Mihika Sakharpe, Austin Stegerwald, and Dominic Zdan are learning to recognize patterns in AI-generated text, spot visual cues in videos, and cross-check information across multiple mainstream news outlets. They say the class has been instrumental in honing these detection skills. However, the students express concern that newer AI tools like Google Gemini are making it even harder to distinguish real from synthetic content, especially around sensitive breaking news events.

  • The journalism class at Ocean Lakes High School is an ongoing program.

The players

Mihika Sakharpe

An 11th-grade student at Ocean Lakes High School who has developed strategies to recognize AI-generated text.

Austin Stegerwald

An 11th-grade student at Ocean Lakes High School who uses cross-checking with mainstream news sources as a verification method.

Dominic Zdan

An 11th-grade student at Ocean Lakes High School who can identify AI-generated videos by their "cartoonish" and "strange" movements.

Fara Wiles

The English and journalism teacher at Ocean Lakes High School who frequently discusses the impact of AI on modern media with her students.

Ocean Lakes High School

A high school in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where students are learning to detect AI-influenced news content.

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What they’re saying

“I generally revolve between AP, BBC, Reuters.”

— Mihika Sakharpe, 11th-grade student

“Sometimes there are definitely times when just by the writing itself you wouldn't really know 100% if it's AI.”

— Austin Stegerwald, 11th-grade student

“When you're putting it in an AI checker a lot of them don't work so have to go to the edit history.”

— Dominic Zdan, 11th-grade student

“AI tends to make things look very cartoonish, like they're moving weird and strangely.”

— Dominic Zdan, 11th-grade student

“I would say this class because we just talk about it so much and we also get experience editing other people's drafts we get to actually see it.”

— Mihika Sakharpe, 11th-grade student

What’s next

The students plan to continue developing their AI detection skills throughout the journalism class and apply them to their work on the school newspaper, The Current.

The takeaway

These high school students are getting an early start on the critical media literacy skills needed to navigate the growing influence of AI on news content. Their efforts highlight the importance of educating young people to be discerning consumers of information in the digital age.