United Nations chief Antonio Guterres believes that while alarm bells over artificial intelligence have lately been “deafening,” they must not “distract us from the damage digital technology is already doing to our world.”
“The proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm now,” he told a news conference while presenting a policy brief on the subject.
“It is fueling conflict, death and destruction now. It is threatening democracy and human rights now.”
He said a “United Nations Code of Conduct for information integrity on digital platforms” was being developed ahead of the UN’s “Summit of the Future” slated for next year.
His policy brief, which will feed the code of conduct, includes a slew of proposals, including that advertisers implicated in monetizing harmful content take full responsibility for their spending.
“Disinformation and hate should not generate maximum exposure and massive profits,” Guterres said.
“The ability to disseminate large-scale disinformation to undermine scientifically established facts poses an existential risk to humanity,” he insisted, referring to their risk to democratic institutions and human rights.
He also said the code of conduct should be based on a commitment to information integrity, human rights, and support for independent media.
“We must learn from the mistakes of the past. Digital platforms were launched into the world without sufficient awareness or assessment of the potential damage to societies and individuals,” he said.
Considering the damage that disinformation and misinformation has wrought upon society in the recent past, the call for a code of conduct for information integrity on digital platforms is actually long overdue. Organizations and individuals with ill intentions have been exploiting the unprecedented reach of digital platforms to create, exploit and spread patently false information with impunity and no regard for the far reaching consequences for far too long.*
