NATO teams from 13 member countries will gather in Riga in mid-October for SYNESIS 2026, a series of military-civilian exercises focused on information and hybrid warfare. The training will introduce artificial intelligence to simulate how societies respond to unfolding events, replacing human participants previously assigned to represent different audiences.

Janis Sarts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Latvia, outlined the plans on the organization’s website. According to Sarts, the exercises will test a new training approach that uses AI to recreate the behavior of different population groups and assess their reactions as scenarios develop.

Until now, similar exercises have relied on people to act as simulated audiences. Sarts explained that this method had significant weaknesses because participants could base their responses on personal beliefs, assumptions and biases. Such subjective judgments risked producing inaccurate reactions and reinforcing mistakes made by other trainees.

To address these shortcomings, specialists have developed virtual societies populated by autonomous AI agents. These digital communities are designed to reflect the characteristics of real populations while adapting their behavior as events unfold. The technology will allow participants to practice strategic communications by interacting with simulated audiences whose responses evolve throughout the exercise.

The training is organized by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, established in 2014. Based in Latvia, the center is accredited as an international military organization.