Seeking Truth at the 2026 International Forum

“Veritatem Dilexi: Truth Seeking in the Age of AI, Disinformation & the Attention Economy”

Nearly 400 members of the Bryn Mawr community from 25 countries and across eight decades of class years registered for the College’s sixth annual International Forum on March 6, 2026. This year’s International Forum convened online for an interactive panel discussion featuring Daisy Sindelar ’89, Nina Jankowicz ’11, Anika Torruella ’98, and Antonia Kerle ’11. The discussion was framed by the College’s motto veritatem dilexi on how emerging technology, geopolitics, and the rapid expansion of the news landscape challenge our ability to seek truth. President Wendy Cadge offered opening remarks.

“How do we discern fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, verified reporting from propaganda? The habits of mind that a Bryn Mawr education confers — discernment, assessment of evidence, adherence to rigorous sourcing, plus a healthy and informed skepticism and curiosity — are the skills that will define a truly educated and truly free person.” – President Wendy Cadge

“AI is alternately dazzling us and terrifying us. And, virtually overnight, it’s changing everything that we as analog human beings understand about language, the workforce, creativity, authorship, and knowledge systems.” – Daisy Sindelar ’89

“The large language models (a form of AI) are being trained by hoovering up what is on the internet right now, including from free data places like Reddit and other forums that can be very misogynistic, very racist. So, the way AI has been developed is antithetical to women’s safety, security, and equality.” – Nina Jankowicz ’11

“AI does not have a work ethic. It does not have morality. It is a set of reiterative instructions deeply rooted in our own falsehoods and foibles that it ingests on the internet. So, it can’t tell the difference sometimes between facts and propaganda.” – Anika Torruella ’98

“We shouldn’t just assume that the world the tech companies have created for us is a foregone conclusion. There are alternative ways of doing things. There are alternative ways of connecting people, of being online, of being in digital community. We just have to build them.” – Antonia Kerle ’11

Thank you to our panelists and participants in this year’s International Forum. All are invited to join us for the next one, taking place in-person October 15–17, 2027, in Tokyo, Japan. Please visit the International Forum website for more details: mawr.life/forum

Tips for truth-seeking from the panel

Track your personal news consumption, and consider how much is passively received versus information you actively sought from trusted sources.
Enraging content is engineered to be the most engaging. When you feel an emotional reaction to content, slow down. Come back to the story later for “lateral reading” across multiple sources to check for bias, credibility, and accuracy.
Pay extra attention to sources when using or consuming information from an AI model. Be aware that entities are grooming the large language models that feed AI tools to manipulate their output.
Advocate for public media and for freedom of information laws and organizations, and support local news, which often gives consumers more agency than national and international news.