AI-Driven Misinformation Across Sectors

Dr. Plinio Morita is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health Sciences and the Director of the Network for Aging Research at the University of Waterloo. He is an affiliated scientist at the Centre for Digital Therapeutics, a Research Scientist at the Research Institute for Aging, and a Chercheur Associé at BioMécanique et BioIngénierie at UTC, France.

Dr. Morita is a leading researcher in the use of AI and IoT for public health, climate change, global health, and technology for supporting healthy aging. His research team (UbiLab) developed large-scale data collection ecosystems for supporting initiatives in Canada and low and middle income countries (LMIC) in their efforts to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health

behaviours, the impact of extreme air pollution on child and maternal health in LMICs (with UNICEF Mongolia), the impact of heatwaves on seniors, and IoT-based systems for supporting independent living.

Dr. Nadia Naffi is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology at Université Laval. Her work focuses on empowerment and strengthening human agency to counter AI-augmented disinformation and the unethical use of deepfakes, through critical and equitable approaches to lifelong learning. She previously held the Chair in Educational Leadership on Innovative Pedagogical Practices in Digital Contexts – National Bank (2019–2025) and co-led the Education and Empowerment axis at the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technologies (OBVIA) (2021–2025).

Jutta Treviranus is the Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and professor in the faculty of Design at OCAD University  (http://idrc.ocadu.ca ).  Jutta established the IDRC in 1993 as the nexus of a growing global community that proactively works to ensure that our digitally transformed and globally connected society is designed inclusively.  She also founded an innovative graduate program in inclusive design.  Jutta has coordinated many research networks with and by people with disabilities. Jutta was recognized for her work in AI by Women in AI and Women in AI Ethics. She is the chair of the Accessible and Equitable Artificial Intelligence standards committee for Accessibility Standards Canada and the Accessible Canada Act.

Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law and is a member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. He has obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from Cambridge University in the UK and Columbia Law School in New York, and a Doctorate in Law (J.S.D.) from Columbia Law School. Dr. Geist has been a regular columnist on digital policy with leading publications such as the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star and is the creator and host of Law Bytes, one of Canada’s top technology podcasts.  He is the editor of several copyright books including The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law (2013, University of Ottawa Press), From “Radical Extremism” to “Balanced Copyright”: Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda (2010, Irwin Law) and In the Public Interest:  The Future of Canadian Copyright Law (2005, Irwin Law), the editor of several monthly technology law publications, and the author of a popular blog on Internet and intellectual property law issues.

Dr. Geist serves on many boards, including Internet Archive Canada board and the Electronic Frontier Foundation Advisory Board. He has received numerous awards for his work including the Privacy and Access Council of Canada Fellowship Award in 2023, the Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression Vox Libera Award in 2018, the Kroeger Award for Policy Leadership and the Public Knowledge IP3 Award in 2010, the Les Fowlie Award for Intellectual Freedom from the Ontario Library Association in 2009, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 2008, Canarie’s IWAY Public Leadership Award for his contribution to the development of the Internet in Canada and he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2003.  In 2010, Managing Intellectual Property named him one of the 50 most influential people on intellectual property in the world and Canadian Lawyer named him one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Dr. Geist was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2018.

Fenwick McKelvey is an Associate Professor in Information and Communication Technology Policy in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University.

He is co-director of the Applied AI Institute and manages the Machine Agencies working group at Speculative Life at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology. He is also a member of the Educational Review Committee of the Walrus Magazine, Director of the Algorithmic Media Observatory, a member of the Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, the Groupe de recherche en communication politique, the Canadian Disinformation Network, and the Montréal Society and Artificial Intelligence Collective (MoSAIC).

He is the author of Internet Daemons: Digital Communications Possessed (University of Minnesota Press, 2018), winner of the 2019 Gertrude J. Robinson Book Award. He is co-author of The Permanent Campaign: New Media, New Politics (Peter Lang, 2012) with Greg Elmer and Ganaele Langlois.  He has co-edited special issues on the Alt-Rights in Canada for the Canadian Journal of Communication and on Optimization for the Review of Communication. He holds a PhD in the joint program of Communication and Culture between York University and Ryerson University.

Amidst discussion of the Internet of Things, Fenwick McKelvey studies the Internet as Things. Investigating the machines, bots, artificial intelligence, algorithms, and daemons that make up the digital world around us.

His research takes him from debates at the CRTC to data centres, from Donna Haraway to Harold Guetzkow. He is currently studying the shaping of artificial intelligence and its legitimacy as a solution to media problems building on his past studies of Network Neutrality and the discoverability of online content. He continues to study political communication, exploring social media and politics, computational management in political campaigns, political bots, and the influence of memes in Canadian politics.

To understand the influences, controls, nudges, and optimizations of the Internet as things, he draws on a range of scholarly work in communication studies, media studies, science and technology studies, and political economy. His resulting research has been published in journals including New Media and Society, the International Journal of Communication, the Internet Histories, and the Canadian Journal of Communication.

Whenever possible, McKelvey participates in public debates and issue-driven discussions related to the Internet as things, frequently serving as a commentator for a variety of media organizations, including CBC’s Power and Politics and The National, The Guardian, and Wired Magazine, among others.