AI, post-truth, and populism

Have you experienced moments when you felt overwhelmed by recent developments in our world? A worldwide pandemic, escalating environmental crises, major geopolitical conflicts, increasing authoritarianism and repression. At the same time, news reports extol the virtues of technological breakthroughs we cannot fully comprehend, like artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and driverless cars. We also hear about new radicalized social and political movements such as truckers blockading the federal parliament in Canada, international rallies against the concept of 15-minute cities, or protests contesting the human rights of persons from LGBTQ+ communities. Social media, a powerful source of information and human connection, has come to perpetuate crises and disinformation, propagating social divisions and cultures of distrust. Our world is changing at a pace that is making it hard to understand and adapt. Some elements that were considered as givens are eroding: the environment, democracy, peace, social relationships, and even representations of the world that we inhabit.  This thematic section is intended to give us pause to explore the implications of three different but interconnected phenomena of our time for evaluation and research on evaluation: AI, post-truth, and populism. First, let's examine what each concept entails.