University of Bologna professor warns of reality-representation confusion

Anna Maria Lorusso, a professor of Philosophy and Language Theory at the University of Bologna, has identified the inability to distinguish between reality and digital representation as a major contemporary emergency. Speaking at a forum titled ‘Information War: From Propaganda to Post-Truth’ held at the French Embassy in Italy, Lorusso argued that the core issue is not merely disinformation, but a fundamental confusion regarding the status of truth.

Lorusso noted that this confusion creates an epistemic regime where truth is no longer clearly defined by its correspondence to reality, but rather by individual belief. She warned that artificial intelligence is poised to amplify this difficulty, making it increasingly hard for society to differentiate between actual reality and its digitally modified or artificially created versions.