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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff walk to a helicopter on their way to Cape Coast in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday March 28, 2023.

Misper Apawu/Pool via REUTERS

What We’re Watching: Zambia warns against anti-LGBTQ protests, AI scares tech leaders

Zambia warns against anti-LGBTQ protests ahead of Harris’s arrival

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema is warning against anti-LGBTQ protests ahead of US Veep Kamala Harris’s visit Friday, part of a three-nation Africa tour aimed at shoring up US relations across Africa.

While in Lusaka, Harris will (virtually) address the Summit for Democracy, a Biden-crafted international conference designed to bolster democratic institutions and norms amid rising global authoritarianism. But dozens of Zambian opposition MPs claim the summit also aims to introduce gay rights to the country.

The opposition Patriotic Front Party reportedly plans to hold protests before the summit, but Hichilema has called for calm and for a dialogue with his opponents. Earlier this month, he vowed to maintain Zambia’s laws criminalizing consensual same-sex acts, which carry a life sentence.

This isn’t the first time gay rights have come up during Harris’s tour. In Ghana, she noted that LGBTQ rights are human rights but did not discuss the proposed Ghanaian bill to criminalize LGBTQ identification and advocacy. Harris’s visit also follows Uganda’s adoption last week of a draconian law that criminalizes identifying as LGBTQ, which could involve the death penalty in some cases.

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Half of the US uses TikTok but Congress may ban it anyway | US Politics In :60 | GZERO Media

Hugely popular TikTok unlikely to be banned by US Congress

Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, DC shares his perspective on US politics:

Is Washington going to ban TikTok?

If you used the social media app TikTok over the past week, you've probably noticed that a lot of your favorite creators are starting to sound the alarm about a potential nationwide ban on the wildly popular application. Over half of US states and the federal government have already banned TikTok from some or all government-issued devices, and Congress is now mulling further actions, with Republicans and Democrats endorsing legislation that could directly or indirectly lead to a blanket ban on its operating in the United States.

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Jess Frampton

Should the US ban TikTok?

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will appear before Congress on Thursday to deliver one message: We come in peace.

The popular video-sharing app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has been locked in a years-long battle with the US government that has become a flashpoint in the increasingly strained relationship between the United States and China.

Intelligence officials and lawmakers from both parties say TikTok poses a threat to national security, arguing the Chinese government can use it to surveil and manipulate Americans at will — a charge that TikTok and Beijing deny. TikTok has been on the chopping block since former President Donald Trump tried and failed to ban it in 2020. Last December, the government prohibited its use on federal devices following months of congressional hearings, and many states and colleges have followed suit. Yet the app can still be used on personal devices, and its reach continues to grow unabated, with nearly half of all Americans (!) now active users of the app.

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Ian interviews Scott Galloway: the ChatGPT revolution & tech peril | GZERO World

Ian interviews Scott Galloway: the ChatGPT revolution & tech peril

Note: This interview appeared as part of an episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, "The AI arms race begins: Scott Galloway’s optimism & warnings" on February 20, 2023.

Hollywood has long predicted the blurring of lines between humans and machines, but now, with OpenAI's Dall-E-2 and ChatGPT pushing the boundaries of generative AI, the question becomes: Will the movie that is AI be a rom-com or horror? On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, tech expert and NYU Professor Scott Galloway warns of the dangers of AI-powered social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, which are collecting vast amounts of data that could be used for espionage and propaganda.

Galloway believes that the younger generation may be manipulated by these platforms without even realizing it. He also addresses extreme political polarization in America, which he attributes to social media, and suggests mandatory national service to bring young people together and build relationships.

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China pushes back on US containment & confrontation | World In :60 | GZERO Media

China responds to US provocations: US/China relations further strained

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

How will the US respond to China's saber-rattling?

Well, I mean, in part, China's saber-rattling is a response to what the United States has already been doing. In particular, significant export sanctions that are not really about competition. They're really about containment of China in some of the top areas of economic development, technological development that they are trying mightily to be world leaders at. There is a level of direct confrontation that the Americans are pushing on and the Chinese are now increasingly public. I thought that it was interesting that Xi Jinping decided to make those statements about the United States directly. He usually defers to the so-called wolf warriors, some of the members of the press so this is getting chippier and the ability to maintain and manage a calm and engaged, interdependent US- China relationship is getting harder. There's, as they say, downward pressure on that call going forward.

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Toxic social media & American divisiveness | GZERO World

Toxic social media & American divisiveness

Are America's social and political divisions a greater threat to its future than any external force? On this episode of GZERO World, tech expert and NYU Professor Scott Galloway argues that despite its geopolitical and economic strength, America's social fabric is fraying due to “a lack of camaraderie, patriotism, and connective tissue.”

He blames social media for creating the sense that things are much worse than they are and worries that artificial intelligence may only make a growing problem much worse.

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ChatGPT's search revolution: How social media will be your new search engine | GZERO World

AI's search revolution: How ChatGPT will be your new search engine

Artificial intelligence and innovations in search engines like Google could shake up some of the old-school tech sectors that have been slacking on innovation for the past two decades.

On GZERO World, tech expert and NYU Professor Scott Galloway shares his views about how Google's current search model sometimes sacrifices accuracy to boost paid results and keep its $150 billion ad business alive.

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US President Joe Biden delivers a speech in Warsaw, Poland on February 21, 2023.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect

What We’re Watching: Fiery rhetoric and a Ukraine “peace plan,” Israel’s economy v. judicial reforms, SCOTUS social media cases

Dueling speeches on Ukraine

A lot of players (and potential players) in the war on Ukraine have used the looming one-year anniversary of the invasion to position themselves for the months ahead. On Monday, President Vladimir Putin used his annual state of the nation address to insist that Russia would continue to fight a war he blames on Western aggression, and he announced that Russia would suspend participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty, which binds Russia and the United States to limit their strategic nuclear stockpiles and to share information and access to weapons facilities. (Note: Inspections have already been suspended for more than a year, and Russia is in no position to finance a new arms race.) President Joe Biden, meanwhile, followed up his surprise visit with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv by meeting in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda and asserting during a speech that “Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased. They must be opposed. Autocrats only understand one word: no, no, no.” In listing what he called Russia’s “atrocities,” he said its forces have “targeted civilians with death and destruction; used rape as a weapon of war… stolen Ukrainian children in an attempt to steal Ukraine's future, bombed train stations, maternity hospitals, schools and orphanages.” Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to make news on Friday with a speech of his own in which he’ll lay out the specifics of a peace plan which, given the distance between the Russian and Ukrainian positions, has virtually no chance of success. The war grinds on.

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