UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has managed to work fearmongering over the perceived proliferation of misinformation, hate speech, and deepfakes into his message issued on the occasion of the upcoming International Day of Democracy.
Not only that but as far as the UN is concerned, this year’s Day of Democracy is focused on – of all things – (at this point in time, upcoming at some later point in time) artificial intelligence (AI).
Though the press release might look like a “politically correct word salad,” it does show a purpose – and that’s pressing for global AI regulation.
The way is, perpetuating the fear that AI, such as it is today, is truly a possible threat to “democracy, peace, and stability.”
According to the UN website, Guterres took this opportunity to frame the problem of erosion of free speech, civil liberties, rule of law, and diminishing trust (ostensibly in legacy media and institutions) as the consequence of that “proliferation of harm.”
The Guterres statement starts off reasonably enough: on International Day of Democracy, these now-under-threat values are the ones that need to be promoted.
But then he descends into explaining why that is by parroting what has been heard a myriad times thus far from many governments and global political and business elites.
For example, what makes free speech so fragile these days? Censorship? Government censorship? And by the same token, is that what’s burdening civil rights in general?
Guterres appears to believe – no. It’s all somehow revolving around “AI” and specifically how to control it – as “a tool for good governance.”
The UN, born after the devastation of the Second World War as a forum to make sure that never repeats, has been losing in influence over the past decade in particular.
Instead of serving its original purpose – especially as all sorts of chaotic behavior and events intensify around the world – this organization is now, alarmingly, trying to find a new lease on life around issues closely related to censorship and repression: the pandemic (via its WHO agency), and now, “disinformation, misinformation, AI…”
That’s the context in which a UN secretary-general makes statements like these: “To seize these opportunities, (AI promoting public participation, equality, inclusiveness, ‘human development’…) it is critical to ensure effective governance of AI at all levels, including internationally.”
Is that really what’s crucial for democracy now – sir?
