During the 11th Session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP11) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) held last week in Doha, Qatar, participants addressed the role of artificial intelligence and new technologies to match the realities of today’s complex crime patterns, as governments were urged to leverage such technologies to deter corruption and sever links with financial and organized crime.
“The swift advance of technology presents corrupt actors with new tools to hide assets, forge documents, and hop between jurisdictions,” John Brandolino, acting executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said.
However, he also recognized that technology can be a “transformative” force against corruption, especially in aiding investigations.
“Governments need to work on reaping the rewards of groundbreaking solutions,” Brandolino noted, adding that the tech solutions must respect human rights and close loopholes that allow criminals to misuse digital tools.
The conference aimed to turn international commitments into action by evaluating how countries apply the anti-corruption treaty and by strengthening cooperation across borders.
The Philippines signed UNCAC on December 9, 2003 and ratified it on November 8, 2006, which obliges it to criminalize certain forms of private and public corruption; institute or strengthen corruption prevention measures; establish procedures that improve international cooperation; and set up systems for the recovery of forfeited assets.
The country’s efforts against corruption have been proven to be extremely deficient, and our government obviously has a lot of work to do, even if the goal is just to minimize it. Resorting to technologies such as AI should always be an option, especially if it can help analyze the patterns and aid investigations that might take too many people who could be influenced or delayed by human intervention.
At this point, the Philippines doesn’t really have a lot to lose when it comes to trying everything in the war against corruption.*
