Data Science specialists win four Global Hackathon Awards for model that could ‘stop the spread of misinformation’

Butterfly Data, a UK-based team of experienced technology consultants specialising in data science and data management, has won an unprecedented four awards in a global hackathon run by data and AI leader SAS. The awards follow its work on developing a groundbreaking generative AI solution to tackle the spread of misinformation.

With the flood of news on traditional and social media, misinformation and disinformation are a major problem, influencing decisions within businesses, organisations, news outlets, governments and shaping citizens attitudes and perceptions – resulting in many instances where it’s caused real harm.

The scope of the issue has been laid bare by a report published earlier this year by The Alan Turing Institute which found more than 9 in 10 people (94%) in the UK have reported witnessing misinformation on social media -. The number of research papers on misinformation has exploded in recent years too, according to Science.org, as psychologists, philosophers, and political and social scientists try to figure out how misinformation spreads and what can be done about it.

Butterfly’s project could serve as a major breakthrough in slowing and even stopping the spread of misinformation (false or inaccurate information) and disinformation (false information created and spread deliberately), which could help restore trust in the information we all consume.

The solution aids analysts in identifying misinformation with complete transparency at its heart. It could be a huge development for organisations like news outlets, where the speed a story needs to be delivered is at odds with the time it takes to verify sources.

Butterfly used advanced natural language processing (NLP) and classification models to attribute a reliability score to news sources from public data to help organisations make decisions based on understanding how reliable and ethical the data is - in a matter of moments. It could be the difference between accurate or inaccurate stories spreading and going viral.

The project has been recognised with four awards at the SAS Hackathon:

Global Special Awards

• Channel Ready
• Trustworthy AI

Global Technology Award

• Models

Regional Award

• EMEA

Speaking about the project and its potential to significantly halt the spread of misinformation, Will Hauwert, Senior Manager at Butterfly Data said: “Data can shape decisions with real world consequences - it is essential to ensure its reliability. Our project offers a practical solution to the growing problem of misinformation helping analysts and decision makers use trustworthy information in their work.

“We believe this advanced NLP tool can be a powerful force for good, helping to combat misinformation especially for news outlets and social media providers who want to ensure the information their platforms share is completely accurate. If this project was to be funded further and rolled out, we could see the scale of misinformation dramatically reduced.”

To create the large language model (LLM) solution, Butterfly Data used what it described as “agile methodology”, harnessing SAS Viya, SAS Viya Workbench and Co-Pilot as well as open source tools such as Git, Python and VS code for collaboration.

Praising the innovation and purpose of Butterfly’s hackathon project, Dr Iain Brown, Head of Data Science at SAS Northern Europe, said:

“We were all blown away with the model Butterfly has developed to tackle the spread of misinformation - a significant issue society faces and something we all have a responsibility to tackle. We have all seen how it can spread and cause real harm in communities across the world.

“This project exemplifies what the SAS Hackathon stands for and we are excited to see how this project could evolve in the future to something that is used in the real world. It has so much potential to have a significant impact on the news and information we all consume and the trust we place in it.”

This year’s SAS Hackathon boasted 1,731 registrants from more than 70 countries. This led to an all-time high of 145 approved teams that participated in the month-long hack, supported by 110 SAS mentors. The annual SAS Hackathon was sponsored this year by long-time SAS partners Microsoft and Intel.

During the hackathon, teams of data scientists, business analysts, technology enthusiasts and students come together – often virtually across continents – to network, learn from each other and from a SAS mentor, and experiment with new technologies that spark innovation and improve lives.

For more information on the project, please visit, https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Hacker-s-Hub/Butterflies-Assessment-of-Data-Source-Credibility/ta-p/942879

About Butterfly Data

Butterfly Data is a human-centric data consultancy, supporting organisations with data-driven decision-making, since 2003. We specialise in advanced data solutions, including data quality, transformation, analytics, and data science, tailored to the challenges of industries like government, healthcare, and defence. At Butterfly Data, we believe in the power of 'data behind every decision'.

Butterfly Data contact details:
Emily Taylor, Marketing Manager – emily.taylor@butterflydata.co.uk | 07710616571