AI, election integrity, and authoritarianism: Insights from Maria Ressa

AI challenges in upholding democracy - insights from Maria Ressa | Global Stage | GZERO Media

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.

More from GZERO Media

Those without access to today’s digital world are losing out on opportunities for education and prosperity, not to mention economic stability. A partnership between Mastercard and KaiOS, a technology platform dedicated to advancing digital and financial inclusion, aims to close that gap and pave the way to a global economy that empowers everyone. Read more about the challenges small businesses face in emerging markets and how the partnership can bring the promise of the digital economy to millions of entrepreneurs around the world.

- YouTube

As Election Day approaches, US cybersecurity chief Jen Easterly warns that while America’s voting systems are more secure than ever, the period between voting and certification remains vulnerable, with foreign adversaries poised to exploit any internal divisions during this critical time. Watch her interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

- YouTube

Listen: On the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Jen Easterly, the top US official behind America’s election security infrastructure. As Director of Homeland Security's Center for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), she is on the frontlines of safeguarding the voting process. In their conversation, Easterly talks about the massive improvements to the nation’s voting systems and emphasizes “with great confidence that election infrastructure has never been more secure.” Yet what worries Easterly is the potential for election meddling and disinformation after voting ends and before certification is complete.

- YouTube

As Americans head to the polls, election officials face the dual challenge of safeguarding both the voting process and public confidence in it, with foreign adversaries and domestic actors ready to exploit any lingering doubts about election integrity. On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer discusses the roots of Americans’ mistrust in the security of their votes, even though election systems are indeed secure.

Listen: The world is grappling with intense political and humanitarian challenges—raging wars, surging nationalism, and a warming climate, to name a few. Yet, we also stand at the brink of some of the most transformative opportunities in human history. So how do we make sense of the future and what’s next? Ian Bremmer breaks it all down in a special edition of the GZERO World Podcast: The 2024 State of the World.

Workers of the Judiciary in Mexico City, Mexico, on October 15, 2024, protest outside the National Palace in the capital against judicial reform in Mexico. They reject the bill promoted by the former president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which proposes the election by popular vote of judges, magistrates, and ministers of the Supreme Court starting in 2025.
(Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto)

Eight out of Mexico’s 11 Supreme Court justices announced late Wednesday that they would resign their positions in opposition to a judicial overhaul that requires them to stand for election, while at the same time Congress passed new legislation that will prohibit legal challenges to constitutional changes.

Footage circulated online on Oct 18, 2024 shows North Korean troops training in Russia.
EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says North Korean soldiers are expected to deploy in combat against Ukrainians in the coming days, while American Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood said 8,000 of Pyongyang’s soldiers are in the Kursk region, which Ukraine has partially occupied.