Insights · May 11th, 2026
A public conversation with Peter Pomerantsev, British-Ukrainian author, journalist, and one of the world’s leading voices on propaganda and authoritarian disinformation.
His books “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible,” “This Is Not Propaganda,” and “How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler” have defined how a generation understands modern information warfare. A senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at John Hopkins University, Pomerantsev has spent decades documenting how autocratic regimes weaponize media, narrative, and, now, artificial intelligence to destabilize democracies and erode the very idea of truth.
AI and Propaganda: Nothing Is True, and Everything Is Generated | Wednesday, April 29, 2026
As AI reshapes the information landscape at breathtaking speed, this conversation asks the questions that matter most: How does AI-powered propaganda differ from what came before — and how do new technologies shape public reality? What happens to our collective capacity for critical thinking when personalized, algorithmically generated realities become the new normality? How can AI help us to protect ourselves from information manipulation? Who are the main actors in disinformation as a business, and what can the world learn from Ukraine, which has become an unexpected laboratory for countering disinformation under existential pressure?
Halyna Padalko, disinformation researcher, Fulbright scholar at MIT Center for International Studies, and instructor of the MIT course AI and Propaganda, moderated the discussion. This event is sponsored by the Center for International Studies, the MIT-Ukraine Program, and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, in conjunction with the MIT course AI and Propaganda in Contemporary War taught by Elizabeth Wood and Halyna Padalko.
The MIT Center for International Studies (CIS) is a world premier, university-based research and education center. Learn more at https://cis.mit.edu/
About Nikolas Badminton
Nikolas Badminton is the Chief Futurist & Hope Engineer at futurist.com. He’s a world-renowned futurist keynote speaker, consultant, author, media producer, and executive advisor that has spoken to, and worked with, over 500 of the world’s most impactful organizations and governments.
Nikolas is an artificial intelligence expert and his 2026 keynote ‘The AI Leader: Create Incredible Productivity, Profit & Growth’ is the level up for the modern CEO and executive leader.
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