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Stop AI disinformation with laws & lawyers: Ian Bremmer & Maria Ressa
How do you keep guardrails on AI? “In the United States, historically, we don't respond with censorship. We respond with lawyers,” said Ian Bremmer, President and Founder of the Eurasia Group & GZERO Media, speaking in a GZERO Global Stage discussion live from the 2023 Paris Peace Forum.
Setting up basic legal structures around artificial intelligence is the first step toward building an infrastructure of accountability that can keep the technology from doing at least as much harm as good.
The European Union has an early lead in setting up systems, but Rappler CEO Maria Ressa said, “the EU is winning the race of the turtles” as the entire globe lags far behind the pace of technological advancement. Without legal structures and a healthy free press and civic society in place, democracies will struggle to remain resilient to the threats of AI-generated disinformation.
The livestream was part of the Global Stage series, produced by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft. These discussions convene heads of state, business leaders, technology experts from around the world for critical debate about the geopolitical and technology trends shaping our world.
- How are emerging technologies helping to shape democracy? ›
- Podcast: Artificial intelligence new rules: Ian Bremmer and Mustafa Suleyman explain the AI power paradox ›
- The AI power paradox: Rules for AI's power ›
- AI and data regulation in 2023 play a key role in democracy ›
- Ian Bremmer: How AI may destroy democracy ›
- Paris Peace Forum Director General Justin Vaïsse: Finding common ground - GZERO Media ›
- At the Paris Peace Forum, grassroots activists highlight urgent issues - GZERO Media ›
AI, election integrity, and authoritarianism: Insights from Maria Ressa
There’s a big, big problem with using AI to defend democracy, says Rappler CEO Maria Ressa: “You need to feed it.”
“AI as a defense tool will always be behind the eight-ball because it is reactive," she said, requiring terabytes of data at a time to pick out the patterns that betray malicious actors. By the time they are detected, they can flood social media with lies that amplify ordinary citizens’ fear when they don’t know what to believe.
Ressa spoke in a GZERO Global Stage livestream discussion with Ian Bremmer, President and Founder, Eurasia Group & GZERO Media, Eléonore Caroit, Vice-President of the French Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, moderated by Julien Pain, journalist and host of Franceinfo, live from the 2023 Paris Peace Forum.
Her newsroom, Rappler, is one of the last independent media outlets in the Philippines and operates under tremendous political pressure. The government has filed so many lawsuits against Ressa and Rappler that she could face a century of prison time. What’s more, Rappler’s reporting attracted repeated cyberattacks in 2021, trying to bring the website down. “When we were attacked, it took the platforms years to come back and fix it," said Ressa, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for her work to safeguard freedom of expression as a journalist.
Watch the full livestream panel discussion: "Live from the Paris Peace Forum: Embracing technology to protect democracy"
The livestream was part of the Global Stage series, produced by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft. These discussions convene heads of state, business leaders, technology experts from around the world for critical debate about the geopolitical and technology trends shaping our world.
- How are emerging technologies helping to shape democracy? ›
- Maria Ressa: Fearless and fair ›
- Facebook allows "lies laced with anger and hate" to spread faster than facts, says journalist Maria Ressa ›
- AI and data regulation in 2023 play a key role in democracy ›
- Paris Peace Forum Director General Justin Vaïsse: Finding common ground - GZERO Media ›
- At the Paris Peace Forum, grassroots activists highlight urgent issues - GZERO Media ›
- AI in 2024: Will democracy be disrupted? - GZERO Media ›
- How to protect elections in the age of AI - GZERO Media ›
How are emerging technologies helping to shape democracy?
How do you know that what you are seeing, hearing, and reading is real?
It’s not an abstract question: Artificial intelligence technology allows anyone with an internet connection and a half-decent laptop to fabricate entirely fictitious video, audio, and text and spread it around the world in the blink of an eye.
The media may be ephemeral, but the threat to governments, journalists, corporations, and you yourself is here to stay. That’s what Julien Pain, journalist and host of Franceinfo, tried to get at during the GZERO Global Stage discussion he moderated live from the 2023 Paris Peace Forum.
In response to a poll that showed 77% of the GZERO audience felt democracies are weakening, Eléonore Caroit, vice president of the French Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, pointed out that the more alarming part is many people around the globe are sufficiently frightened to trade away democratic liberties for the purported stability of unfree governments — a trend authoritarian regimes exploit using AI.
“Democracy is getting weaker, but what does that provoke in you?” she asked. “Do you feel protected in an undemocratic regime? Because that is what worries me, not just that democracy is getting weaker but that fewer people seem to care about it.”
Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, said a lot of that fear stems from an inability to know what to trust or even what is real as fabricated media pervades the internet. The very openness that democratic societies hold as the keystone of their civic structures exacerbates the problem.
“Authoritarian states can tell their citizens what to believe. People know what to believe, the space is made very clear, there are penalties for not believing those things,” Bremmer explained. “In democracies, you increasingly don’t know what to believe. What you believe has become tribalized and makes you insecure.”
Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, who is risking a century-long prison sentence to fight state suppression of the free press in the Philippines, called information chaos in democracies the “core” of the threat.
“Technology has taken over as the gatekeeper to the public sphere,” she said “They have abdicated responsibility when lies spread six times faster than the truth” on social media platforms.
Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith offered a poignant example from Canada, in which a pro-Ukraine activist was targeted by Russia with AI-generated audio of a completely fabricated statement. They spliced it into a real TV broadcast and spread the clip across social media to discredit the activist’s work of years within minutes.
The good news, Smith said, is that AI can also be used to help fight disinformation campaigns.
“AI is an extraordinarily powerful tool to identify patterns within data,” he said. “For example, after the fire in Lahaina, we detected the Chinese using an influence network of more than a hundred influencers — all saying the same thing at the same time in more than 30 different languages” to spread a conspiracy theory that the US government deliberately started the blaze.”
All the panelists agreed on one crucial next step: aligning all the stakeholders — many with competing interests and a paucity of mutual trust — to create basic rules of the road on AI and how to punish its misuse, which will help ordinary people rebuild trust and feel safer.
The livestream was part of the Global Stage series, produced by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft. These discussions convene heads of state, business leaders, technology experts from around the world for critical debate about the geopolitical and technology trends shaping our world.
- Stop misinformation blame game — let's do something about it ›
- Christchurch Call had a global impact on tech giants - Microsoft's Brad Smith ›
- What does democracy look like in Modi's India? ›
- Ian Bremmer: How AI may destroy democracy ›
- AI, election integrity, and authoritarianism: Insights from Maria Ressa - GZERO Media ›
- Stop AI disinformation with laws & lawyers: Ian Bremmer & Maria Ressa - GZERO Media ›
- How AI threatens elections - GZERO Media ›
- Paris Peace Forum Director General Justin Vaïsse: Finding common ground - GZERO Media ›
- At the Paris Peace Forum, grassroots activists highlight urgent issues - GZERO Media ›
GZERO celebrates International Women's Day
On International Women's Day, we’re proud to showcase just a few of the exceptional women we’ve interviewed on “GZERO World with Ian Bremmer,” our weekly program on US public television. The accomplishments of these remarkable women have made them role models globally. Click to watch our interviews with:
- Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and women's rights activist, known for her campaign against the Iranian government
- Jennifer Granholm, the former Governor of Michigan and current US Secretary of Energy
- Alina Polyakova, a political scientist and foreign policy expert
- Nikole Hannah-Jones, a journalist and author who led the 1619 Project
- Jean Lee, a journalist who extensively covered North Korea and currently serves as the director of the Korea Program at the Wilson Center
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a Belarusian politician and human rights activist who challenged the authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election.
- Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, a South African politician and women's rights advocate and former Executive Director of UN Women
- Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from The Citadel military college and a Republican congresswoman from South Carolina
- Christine Lagarde, a French lawyer and politician who is currently serving as the President of the European Central Bank
- Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American journalist and CEO of the news website Rappler, known for her coverage of press freedom and the Philippine government's war on drugs
- Kaja Kallas, Estonia's popular centre-right prime minister, who won a sweeping election victory, receiving more personal votes than any politician in the country's history
Philippines court convicts top journalist — what comes next?
Over a year ago, we reported on Maria Ressa's conviction for cyber-libel in the Philippines. While her appeal works its way through the country's byzantine justice system, today she won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Below is our original piece published on June 15, 2020.
Ever since the rough-spoken populist Rodrigo Duterte was elected president of the Philippines in 2016, journalists have warned that his open disdain for the media would put press freedom in the country at risk.
On Monday, those fears were underscored when the authorities found Maria Ressa, an internationally-renowned journalist and fierce critic of Duterte's, guilty of libel under the country's cybercrimes law.
What's the back story? In 2012, the online news site Rappler, which Ressa heads, published an article linking a local businessman to illegal activities, citing an unnamed intelligence report. A Manila judged ruled that the article violated the libel provisions in a 2012 cybercrime law. But the story was actually published four months before that law even came into effect. The authorities cited a 2014 update to the article — merely to fix a series of typos — as justification for throwing the book at Ressa. Even then, the charges weren't filed until 2017.
Critics say the case against Ressa and Rappler is politically motivated. Duterte is no fan of journalists in general, but he has singled out Rappler over its coverage of his popular but bloody war on drugs. He has accused the news site of being a CIA front, and said Ressa is part of a conspiracy to topple the administration. The abuse was so bad that in 2018, TIME included Ressa among the journalists named Person of the Year for defying attacks on the press.
Ressa, for her part, has repeatedly warned that Duterte is weaponizing political institutions, as well as social media, to stifle dissent. Last year, she told GZERO Media that she feared the consequences of Duterte's allies winning control over the Senate, one of the last checks on his power. The cybercrime law has proven to be a powerful tool. A new anti-terror law — which allows detaining alleged "terrorists" for up to 24 days without a judicial warrant — will soon be approved as well.
Ressa's conviction also has wider implications for press freedom in the Philippines. Before the ruling, the Philippines had already slipped two places in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index to 136 among 180 countries, and it has already fallen 11 spots from where it was in the first full year of Duterte's presidency. Last month the government shuttered the country's top television network. Ressa's fate will make Filipino journalists even more hesitant to hold the government accountable.
This is part of a troubling global trend. Press freedom is under threat around the world. Not only in authoritarian countries, but in once-vibrant democracies – like the Philippines – where populist leaders are eroding institutions. The watchdog Freedom House has found that over the past five years, press freedom has declined in 16 of the world's freest countries.
What will happen to Ressa? She faces up to six years in prison, but will remain free while her appeal winds its way through the labyrinthine Philippine justice system. But things don't get any easier: Ressa and Rappler are also facing another 7 active charges.
Disclaimer: The author of this story is a former employee of Rappler.
Maria Ressa, the CEO of online news platform Rappler, speaks to the media after posting bail at a Manila Regional Trial Court in Manila City.
Maria Ressa: Fearless and fair
The last time I saw my former boss Maria Ressa, about three years ago in New York, she wasn't worried about being arrested upon her return to the Philippines. Her friends and family had told her to consider staying in America, as she's a dual citizen after growing up in New Jersey. But she thought it was her duty to go back to Manila and continue doing her job as CEO of independent news site Rappler.
She wasn't arrested that time for her role in Rappler updating an old article deemed by a judge to be retroactively libelous. But she was detained in February 2019 over the same charge, and again a month later for allegedly violating a ban on foreign ownership of the media. Maria got out on bail both times, but that wasn't the end of her legal troubles.
In June 2020, she was convicted of cyber-libel, and now faces up to 100 years in prison under a very loose and retroactive interpretation of the law that's been panned as an attack on press freedom.
For years, Maria has been fighting dozens of court cases designed to silence her and Rappler for exposing the truth about President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs and corruption within the administration. She almost always prevails, but it costs her and Rappler energy, time, and money — not to mention personal sacrifice.
The thing is, she does have almost limitless energy. When I worked at Rappler a decade ago, we jokingly referred to Maria as being like the Energizer Bunny in the old TV commercials. No matter how tough a day had been, she'd always be at her tiny desk, chatting with her trusted top editor Glenda Gloria, typing furiously on her laptop, or talking to a source on the phone, and running on her usual diet of pandesal and diet Coke.
She's always smiling. And laughing, especially when she lets her guard down a bit at Rappler parties. But she's also tough as nails.
It takes a lot of guts to defy a dictator wannabe who's ordered his cops and soldiers to kill thousands of people. Especially when he's made it personal. After all, Duterte once claimed Maria was part of a CIA plot to oust him from power. And he still eggs on his supporters on Facebook who threaten to rape and kill her because he's weaponized social media.
More importantly, though, she's fair. Maria and Rappler gave Duterte a chance, even when it seemed a trash-talking mayor from the province didn't have a shot at the top job in Manila. But the relationship soured once the bullet-ridden bodies started piling up on the streets, with Rappler's Patricia Evangelista writing about it all.
Operating in a country long recognized for its press freedom, Rappler is doing the same to the Duterte regime that it did to his predecessor. And that it'll do to the next Philippine administration: hold it to account, and call it out when it fails to deliver or abuses its power.
"I am a cautionary tale for journalists," Maria told Ian Bremmer soon after her conviction on GZERO World. She's also an inspiration — and now a Nobel winner.
The question is now: will Duterte let her travel to Oslo to receive the prize?
Maria Ressa on Filipino reaction to Duterte government's militarized COVID response
Embattled journalist Maria Ressa talks with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World about how the COVID-19 pandemic has bolstered President Rodrigo Duterte's authoritarian approach to governing the Philippines, and how the lockdown there has sparked a social movement among citizens. Duterte's order to kill those breaking quarantine rules, she says, "fueled Filipinos who are stuck at home to go out online, and for the first time, the day after President Duterte said that, #oustDutertenow trended number one overnight and globally as well."
“I am a cautionary tale for journalists": Maria Ressa on her legal battle
As Filipina journalist Maria Ressa, CEO of the online news agency Rappler, faces charges that could potentially lead to 100 years in prison, she talks with Ian Bremmer about the case that has made her a global advocate for press freedom. President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines targeted her and Rappler as he manages the nation under "the 3C's: corrupt, coerce, co-opt," she says.