Fake News Detection and Classification: A Comparative Study of Convolutional Neural Networks, Large Language Models, and Natural Language Processing Models

In an era where fake news detection has become a pressing issue due to its profound impacts on public opinion, democracy, and social trust, accurately identifying and classifying false information is a critical challenge. In this study, the effectiveness is investigated of advanced machine learning models—convolutional neural networks (CNNs), bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT), and generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs)—for robust fake news classification. Each model brings unique strengths to the task, from CNNs’ pattern recognition capabilities to BERT and GPTs’ contextual understanding in the embedding space. Our results demonstrate that the fine-tuned GPT-4 Omni models achieve 98.6% accuracy, significantly outperforming traditional models like CNNs, which achieved only 58.6%. Notably, the smaller GPT-4o mini model performed comparably to its larger counterpart, highlighting the cost-effectiveness of smaller models for specialized tasks. These findings emphasize the importance of fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) to optimize the performance for complex tasks such as fake news classifier development, where capturing subtle contextual relationships in text is crucial. However, challenges such as computational costs and suboptimal outcomes in zero-shot classification persist, particularly when distinguishing fake content from legitimate information. By highlighting the practical application of fine-tuned LLMs and exploring the potential of few-shot learning for fake news detection, this research provides valuable insights for news organizations seeking to implement scalable and accurate solutions. Ultimately, this work contributes to fostering transparency and integrity in journalism through innovative AI-driven methods for fake news classification and automated fake news classifier systems.