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In last week's post, I focused on an AI-generated image from the Paris protests that went viral across social media. The fake image, supposedly showing an elderly couple being robbed and humiliated in their underwear, was quickly disseminated by diverse actors, all hoping to inflame tensions in France. Each group used the image to cement... Continue Reading →
The past week has seen a series of violent protests erupt throughout France. What began as a series of protests by students over tuition fees and social inequalities spiraled into the most violent riots in recent French history. In cities across the country, police clashed with protestors, with hundreds of people being arrested. As city... Continue Reading →
The age of AI has given rise to a new form of public discourse, one that is inherently Synthetic. Throughout the world, individuals are using AI-generated visuals to comment on events dominating national and international politics. These AI visuals often rest on Intertextuality, a term which denotes the fact that most texts are never entirely... Continue Reading →
Over the past decade, scholars have used a variety of terms to describe diplomats’ use of digital technologies to obtain foreign policy goals. These have included “Diplomacy 2.0,” “Twiplomacy,” “virtual diplomacy,” and the more widely used “digital diplomacy.” More recently, scholars and practitioners have adopted the term “Tech Diplomacy” to capture a changing geopolitical landscape... Continue Reading →
Since the advent of digital diplomacy, states and diplomats have struggled to contain malign actors from leveraging technology for nefarious ends. There were three distinct waves of digital disinfromation. The early 2010s were defined by coordinated disinformation campaigns. State-managed accounts and "fake news" sites flooded social feeds with malicious content, warping reality and intensifying political... Continue Reading →
Digital diplomacy is now entering its third decade. Having emerged circa 2008 with the establishment of virtual embassies in virtual worlds, digital diplomacy now includes the use of diverse technologies ranging from social media to messaging applications, blogs, smartphone applications, big data analysis, coding, websites, and even crowdfunding, as recently used by Ukraine. For policymakers,... Continue Reading →
In a previous blog post, I sought to examine a possible Country-of-Origin Effect in Generative AI applications. In the late 1990’s nation branding scholars began exploring the Country-of-Origin Effect. Rooted in marketing research, the Country-of-Origin Effect suggested that consumer labels impact individuals’ willingness to buy products. For example, the “Made in China” label was once... Continue Reading →
On July 17, 2025, a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert captured Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR chief Kristin Cabot embracing, prompting viral speculation of an affair. The lead singer’s on-stage comment, "Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy”, as well as the couple’s obvious alarm at being caught on camera,... Continue Reading →
Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is considered the cornerstone of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg famously argued that quantum particles are subject to unpredictable fluctuations, making them impossible to track precisely. The position and momentum of an electron, for example, are subject to unpredictable fluctuations and as such cannot be measured exactly. Even more complex is the understating... Continue Reading →
Sociologist Manuel Castells famously argued that digital societies relentlessly strive to annihilate time and space. Time is annihilated by the reversal of traditional roles and life experiences. Such is the case with a 30-year-old tech CEO that manages 50-year-old employees or in the view of retirement as a second adolescence, a period of experimentation, of... Continue Reading →
