Maria Zakharova: In the AI Era, Disinformation Has Become a Weapon of International Politics

As part of the International Festival of Youth, the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN) hosted a joint panel session titled “Diplomacy, Trust, and Facts in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” Panelists discussed how the rise of AI and digital platforms is transforming the global information space and examined what trust-building mechanisms are required in this new technological landscape.

The session was moderated by GFCN Vice President Daniil Bisslinger, with Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, serving as the keynote speaker. Participants emphasized that digital platforms actively shape society’s cognitive priorities and influence markets, politics, and elections. At the same time, the digital domain still lacks mechanisms to protect civilians and holds no clear accountability for systemic manipulation.

According to Maria Zakharova, information has now become a strategic weapon comparable in its destructive impact to conventional arms. Automated news generation and deepfakes are being deployed not only for legitimate tasks, but also in ways that cause irreparable harm to society. She noted that large-scale disinformation dumps can be leveraged as geopolitical tools to sway political decision-making.

Reflecting on the societal risks posed by technological advancement, Zakharova quoted Academician Dmitry Likhachev, who warned about the perils of automation as far back as 1989: “Technology is displacing spiritual life. It is not humanity that is developing, but machines around humanity… And in the end, all of this culminates in disaster.”

Countering these threats calls for a fundamentally new ecosystem of trust and the adaptation of fact-checking practices to the AI era. Daniil Bisslinger highlighted what he viewed as the central challenge of the modern age: “In an era of algorithms, synthetic generation, and neural networks, information spreads so rapidly that it raises a critical question: Does it make any sense to fight fakes on an individual basis, or should we instead build an overarching ecosystem of trust to strengthen international cooperation?”

The session concluded that fostering independent verification institutions must serve as the primary response to global information challenges. In closing, Maria Zakharova noted that Moscow will host the international anti-disinformation forum “Dialog about Fakes 4.0” on September 22, with more than 2,000 guests expected to attend. The event will showcase the findings of independent investigations into combating false information, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will deliver an exclusive address at the opening ceremony.

Registration for the forum is available via the following link:
https://russia.accreditation.ru/dialogue26/