Adrian Monck on AI, Journalism, and the Erosion of Shared Reality

In an interview with Eurasia Review, Adrian Monck, former Managing Director at the World Economic Forum and Editor of 7 Things, discusses the profound transformation of the global information ecosystem. Monck argues that the crisis extends beyond misinformation to the erosion of shared reality itself, driven by artificial intelligence, algorithmic amplification, and synthetic content. He highlights how traditional gatekeepers like legacy journalism and institutional authority are losing influence to fragmented, AI-mediated systems. Drawing parallels to the collapse of Rome’s pagan traditions, Monck suggests that Enlightenment liberalism is being erased, replaced by divergent interpretations of events. He illustrates this with his experience reporting from Bosnia, where identical footage led to vastly different conclusions among audiences, undermining the belief in a unified national conversation. The discussion covers the decline of trust in established institutions, the rise of cognitive security concerns, and the ongoing contest over who shapes public understanding in an era where technology firms and autonomous processes increasingly dictate visibility and meaning.