Digital Hollywood: The AI & Entertainment Summit
Tuesday, July 21st, 2026
4 – 4:50 PM Eastern Time Zone
Session I: A Virtual Event
The Meme War: Propaganda & Bots vs. Legitimate Satire
The internet didn't invent propaganda — but it gave it a rocket ship. Today's information battlefield is fought in memes, manipulated media, coordinated bot networks and AI-generated disinformation campaigns operating at a scale and speed no human team could match. Yet running alongside this weaponized content is a long and legitimate tradition of political satire, creative parody and comedic dissent that democracies have always depended upon. Where is the line? Who draws it? And when platforms, algorithms and foreign actors are all playing the same game simultaneously, does the line even hold? In this session we trace the origins of malicious bots and coordinated inauthentic behavior, examine the forensics of modern propaganda and ask what legitimate satire looks like in the age of the meme war.
Speakers:
Giuseppe De Lauri, Director/Artist, Creative Strategist, New York University, Moderator
Luka Tisler,
AI Advisor, Co-founder Lighthouse Academy
Henry Ajder, Founder, Latent Space Advisory, co-author "Just Joking! Deepfakes, Satire and the Politics of Synthetic Media" (WITNESS / MIT)
Filippo Menczer,
Professor of Informatics and Computer Science, Indiana University
Giuseppe De Lauri is an Italian filmmaker and AI technologist based in Brooklyn. Over the past seven years in film, advertising and digital he has won a Webby, a MUSE Platinum and NY Festivals Gold, with brand work from Bud Light to Pfizer. He now builds AI-native film pipelines at herbie.studio and is developing a course on AI and propaganda at NYU. The panel's subject is the territory he works in: who makes synthetic media, who spreads it, and who catches it.
Henry Ajder is a globally recognised advisor, broadcaster, and speaker working at the frontier of the deepfake and generative revolution. Since 2018, Henry’s research has shaped global understanding of deepfakes and generative AI. He advises organisations on the opportunities and challenges these revolutionary technologies present, including Adobe, Google, The UK Government, The World Economic Forum, and Synthesia. Henry presented the BBC series, *The Future will be Synthesised* and is a **visiting lecturer at Judge Business School at The University of Cambridge. He led groundbreaking initiatives on synthetic media at organisations including MIT, WITNESS, Sensity AI, and Synthetic Futures. His work on deepfakes and generative AI ethics has influenced international legislation. Henry presented the BBC series, *The Future will be Synthesised*, and regularly features in international media including The New York Times, MIT Tech Review, and CNN. He has been recognised as one of Europe’s top 20 Generative AI power players by the Financial Time’s Sifted publication.
Filippo Menczer is the Luddy distinguished professor of informatics and computer science and the director of the Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University. He holds a Laurea in Physics from the Sapienza University of Rome and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego. His recent research focuses on the vulnerability of social media networks to disinformation and manipulation. Dr. Menczer is a Fellow of the ACM and AAAS.
Luka Tisler: Luka Tišler is a generative AI creator, researcher, educator, and content creator with over 15 years of experience in video post-production and motion design. He is the co-founder of Lighthouse AI Academy, a world-leading platform for AI education in creative industries, and founder of 6-Fingers, an AI-first production and research studio. Luka specializes in visual workflows using tools like ComfyUI, Weavy, and advanced custom pipelines. Through his teaching and speaking engagements, he focuses on creative process design with AI tools, empowering artists, studios, and professionals to rethink storytelling, production, and ideation in the age of machine creativity. His work bridges the gap between cutting-edge technology and hands-on creative practice, making him a sought-after voice in the future of AI-driven content creation.
