By The opinion
Mar 18, 2024, 01:17 AM EDT
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, denounced the use that some governments make of artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor and misinform its citizens and defended efforts by Washington and other democracies to make this technology drive greater defense of basic rights.
In his speech during a ministerial meeting on technology in the third edition of the Summit for Democracy that began today in Seoul, Blinken highlighted the global expectation that AI and its possibilities arouse but at the same time warned that it is “a key area in which Democracy is being tested.”
“As we seek to harness the power of AI and other digital technologies for just purposes, Some governments are abusing these same technologies to do just the opposite.“warned the Secretary of State.
“They are using artificial intelligence tools, such as facial recognition or bots, to monitor their own citizens, to harass journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidentsto spread misinformation and disinformation that undermines free and fair elections or pits one segment of our societies against another,” he continued.
Blinken insisted that his country is “determined to shape the conditions of our technological future in a way that is inclusive, respectful of rights and that sustains democratic values and institutions” and, in addition to highlighting the battle that Washington has raised to the use of “spyware,” defended efforts to establish guidelines for technology companies.
In that sense, he announced that his Government will publish today a guide, “the first of its kind,” to provide technology companies with “tools to help prevent, mitigate and obtain justice” in relation to online attacks faced by human rights defenders. human rights.
He also recalled that from 2023, The US has financed the use of tools to bypass information blocking mechanisms -such as VPN systems- of authoritarian Governments through the Fund for the Increase and Maintenance of Anti-Censorship Technology.
Blinken also highlighted different projects supported by AI launched this year in countries such as Kenya, Chile or Ukraine aimed at improving democratic institutions, the defense of basic rights or the prosecution of war crimes.
The highest representative of US diplomacy also insisted that, given the rapid advance of these technologies“what is decided now and in the coming weeks and months will determine the future of generations”, so it is an urgent task that requires a joint effort
The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, called for the generation of an international regulatory framework for the “new era” of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a technology that, he said, could accelerate sustainable development goals by 2030.
“We are in a completely new era of AI,” Blinken said, noting how this technology has not only increased its information processing capacity, but can create original content and perform the most “complicated” tasks.
While warning of “the dangers” of its use, Blinken recognized its potential to “make the world a little safer, healthier, and more prosperous.”
*With information from EFE
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