Truth, trust and tricksters in the age of AI

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly transforms society, the truth is becoming ever harder to discern, raising questions about our trust in journalism, politics and even history. How do we operate in the mirror world of AI and identify the truth tellers from the tricksters?

Join Index on Censorship, the Institute for Creativity and AI and Global (Dis)Order for a panel discussion and launch of Index’s latest magazine issue on Wednesday 1 October at City St George’s, University of London.

With speakers Dr Eduardo Alonso (professor of Artificial Intelligence/director of the AI Research Centre (CitAI) City St George’s), Kenneth Cukier (deputy executive editor, The Economist), Timandra Harkness (writer, broadcaster and presenter).

All guests will receive a free copy of the magazine on arrival. The panel discussion will be followed by a reception.
Full address: Room A130, College Building [A], City St’ Georges, EC1V 4PB

Illustration by Tatyana Zelenskaya.
Sponsored by Sage.

About the speakers

Dr Eduardo Alonso is Professor of Artificial Intelligence and the Director of the AI Research Centre (CitAI) at City St George’s, University of London. He specialises in agent-based AI (now rebranded as Agentic AI) and in the philosophy of AI, including ethical and legal considerations and the socio-economic impact of both symbolic and connectionist models (known as GenAI and LLMs). He is a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College and the university’s academic liaison with the Alan Turing Institute, United Kingdom’s National Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Kenneth Cukier is deputy executive editor of The Economist, following two decades at the paper as a foreign correspondent, technology writer, data editor and commentary editor. He is the coauthor of the NYT bestselling book “Big Data” with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, which was translated into over 20 languages, and “Framers” on AI and mental models, with Viktor and Francis de Véricourt. Previously Kenn was the technology editor of the Wall Street Journal Asia in Hong Kong and worked at the International Herald Tribune in Paris.

Timandra Harkness is a writer, broadcaster and presenter. She is a familiar voice on radio, writing and presenting BBC Radio 4’s FutureProofing and other series including How To Disagree, Steelmanning and Political School. BBC Radio documentaries include Data, Data Everywhere, Divided Nation, What Has Sat-Nav Done To Our Brains, and Five Knots. Her book ‘Big Data: does size matter?’ was published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2016, with an updated paperback edition in June 2017. Her second non-fiction book, ‘Technology is Not the Problem’, published in 2024 by Harper Collins, is now out in paperback.

About

Index on Censorship is a UK-based charity dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of expression around the world. Founded in 1968 as Writers and Scholars International, we have a long and proud history of standing up for the right to speak, write, create and protest without fear.

The Institute for Creativity and AI is City St George’s new space to research and explore strategic impacts at the intersection of creativity, creative work and AI technologies. It is wilfully interdisciplinary, and involves academics and students from all City St George’s schools.

Global (Dis)Order is a dedicated interdisciplinary research group based at City St George’s, University of London formed to develop new international research to further our understanding of global order and disorder. It aims to form a unique, global and diverse network practitioners, public intellectuals, researchers, and academics, who are making sense of, interpreting, and navigating Global Disorder.