Understand Truth Anymore?': Conference In Rome Discusses Distrust In Age Of AI

A Rome dinner conference hosted by the Acton Institute examined how AI is reshaping truthful communication amid rising distrust. The event, “Communicating Truth in an Age of AI,” brought together clergy, business leaders, journalists, and scholars, including representatives from Catholic media and secular academia. EWTN vice president Andreas Thonhauser argued that AI amplifies existing communication noise rather than creating new problems, warning that audiences also become recipients of that clutter. Jenn Lindsay of John Cabot University and CEO of So Fare Films said documentary storytelling has always used creative treatment of actuality, and AI intensifies truth questions. Attendees also discussed optimism versus pessimism, noting reported student cheating declines as hopeful while citing the need for a guiding human element.