William & Mary’s Dr. Trenton Ford Featured at NATO Academic Conference on Digital Resilience in London

London, United Kingdom — Just one week after the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Dr. Trenton W. Ford, assistant professor of Data Science and director of the Ford AI and Society Lab, played a central role in NATO’s academic conference on societal resilience in the digital age. Held in London, the conference gathered leading academics, defense strategists, and technologists to address how democratic societies can confront the rising threats of disinformation, cognitive warfare, and the strategic use of emerging technologies.

Dr. Ford was a featured expert in Session II: The Impact of Social Media on the Resilience of Society, a session focused on the dual role of digital platforms as tools for civic engagement and vectors for strategic manipulation. With the rapid proliferation of AI-generated content and deepfakes, NATO officials are increasingly concerned about the ability of hostile actors to undermine public trust and democratic institutions. Dr. Ford drew on his research into human digital twins and AI-powered misinformation detection to outline how generative models—such as large language models—can be weaponized in coordinated influence operations. His contribution emphasized the urgency of building resilient information ecosystems and promoting ethical, interdisciplinary strategies to defend democratic discourse.

Dr. Ford’s participation underscores W&M's expanding influence in the realm of AI, information integrity, and international security. Through his leadership and the work of the Ford AI and Society Lab, the university is helping shape NATO’s understanding of how to protect truth and trust in an era of digital contestation.