Dr Ming Ming Chiu: Why Fake News Works So Well

In this episode, Eric talks with researcher Dr Ming Ming Chiu about fake news, AI generated deception, creativity, and the hidden patterns inside human communication. Drawing from decades of work across education, statistics, online behavior, and computational analysis, Dr Chiu explains why misinformation spreads so effectively and why the future of trust may become one of the defining challenges of modern society. What began as research into how children learn mathematics eventually led Dr Chiu into studying online predators, extremist recruitment, fake news networks, and deceptive communication itself. Along the way, he developed what he calls “Deceptive Writing Theory,” a framework that attempts to identify falsehoods not by checking facts directly, but by analyzing the language patterns people use when they lie. The conversation explores why fake news works in the first place. Dr Chiu argues that deception succeeds because most people are generally honest and cooperative in daily life. Humans are wired to trust. That trust becomes exploitable when large organizations, political actors, or AI systems learn how to manipulate emotion, identity, fear, and social sharing dynamics at scale. Eric and Dr Chiu also discuss how different cultures experience misinformation differently, why AI may dramatically increase the scale of manipulation, and what happens when societies retreat into isolated “truth bubbles.” At the same time, the conversation turns toward creativity and scientific discovery itself. Dr Chiu explains why most of his ideas fail, why failure is central to innovation, and how creativity often emerges by connecting patterns across completely unrelated fields. At its core, this is a conversation about trust. About how humans decide what is real. And about whether societies can maintain shared reality in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms designed to manipulate attention. **Topics Covered** - Why humans are naturally vulnerable to fake news - How “Deceptive Writing Theory” attempts to detect lies - The language patterns common in deceptive communication - Why fake news spreads through emotion and identity - The role of Russia, China, and large scale disinformation campaigns - Why AI could dramatically increase manipulation online - How scammers intentionally target vulnerable people - The relationship between trust and misinformation - Why different cultures respond differently to fake news - Echo chambers, polarization, and collapsing shared reality - Why most scientific ideas fail - Creativity through pattern recognition across disciplines - How Dr Chiu moved from computer science into education research - What children’s conversations revealed about human behavior - Why large tech companies may be the only groups capable of addressing fake news at scale - The tension between optimism and pessimism about humanity’s future **Episode Links** - Dr Ming Ming Chiu on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pY0PJVsAAAAJ&hl=en - Dr Chiu at The Education University of Hong Kong: https://www.eduhk.hk/en/experts/professor-chiu-ming-ming For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com Questions or guest ideas: [eric@inboundandagile.com](mailto:eric@inboundandagile.com)