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Online violence means real-world danger for women in politics like EU's Lucia Nicholsonová
Content Warning: This clip contains sensitive language.
In a compelling dialogue from a GZERO Global Stage discussion on gender equality in the age of AI, Lucia Nicholsonová, former Slovak National Assembly vice president and current member of European Parliament for Slovakia, recounts her harrowing personal experiences with disinformation campaigns and gendered hate speech online.
Ms. Nicholsonová read example messages she receives online, such as, "Damn you and your whole family. I wish you all die of cancer."
She also has faced false accusations of past criminal activity through deliberate online misinformation campaigns, which she says led to endured public humiliation and threats, even experiencing strangers spitting on her in the streets. These attacks were fueled by misogyny and prejudice and took a toll on her mental well-being and family life.
As Ms. Nicholsonová recalls, “It was a real trauma because I mean, at some point I wasn't able to go out of my home because I felt so threatened.”
The conversation was presented by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the UN Foundation. The Global Stage series convene heads of state, business leaders, technology experts from around the world for critical debate about the geopolitical and technology trends shaping our world.
Watch the full conversation here: What impact will AI have on gender equality?
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The online abuse crisis threatens the mental health of young women worldwide
In a GZERO Global Stage discussion from the sidelines of the United Nation's 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the pervasive issue of online abuse and harassment faced by young women was in the spotlight.
Michelle Milford Morse, the UN Foundation's Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy points out that “more than half of young women are experiencing some form of abuse and harassment online, sometimes as young as eight,” underscoring the urgent need for collective efforts to combat online abuse and create safer digital spaces for everyone, but especially women. Milford Morse points out the importance that we all work towards a future where everyone can thrive free from fear and harassment in both physical and digital environments.
The conversation was presented by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the UN Foundation. The Global Stage series convene heads of state, business leaders, technology experts from around the world for critical debate about the geopolitical and technology trends shaping our world.
Watch the full conversation here: What impact will AI have on gender equality?
What impact will AI have on gender equality?
At the current rate of progress toward gender equality, the World Economic Forum estimates it will take 131 years for women to attain parity in income, status, and leadership.
While technology is a powerful tool to help close the gender gap, it can also be weaponized. GZERO’s special presentation “Gender Equality in the Age of AI” featured candid conversations about the opportunities and threats that exist online, and how artificial intelligence will impact them.
Produced on the sidelines of the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the program featured leading experts from government, technology, and philanthropy. Moderator Penny Abeywardena, former NYC Commissioner for International Affairs, was joined by Jac sm Kee, co-founder of Numun Fund; Vickie Robinson, general manager of the Microsoft Airband Initiative; Michelle Milford Morse, the United Nations Foundation’s vice president for Girls and Women Strategy; and Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, a member of the European Parliament from Slovakia.
“The beauty and the promise of digital technologies is the opening up of democratic and civic participation space,” said Jac sm Kee. “But what is happening right now is the direct closing down of these spaces through deliberate attacks.”
The discussion focused on three key areas: gender-based online violence, the need for greater digital inclusion and access, and increasing leadership roles for women in all aspects of public life.
In a recent study from UNESCO, 58% of women and girls surveyed globally said they had experienced online violence, defined as a range of abuses including harassment, stalking, and defamation. Female journalists and politicians experienced these threats in even higher numbers.
During GZERO’s program, European Union parliamentarian Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová shared incredibly disturbing messages she has received throughout her years in office, many including violent and profane language and graphic sexual threats.
“These words are real. The people who are writing these words are real,” Nicholsonová said. “We can erase them through algorithms online, but they will still exist. I think we really need to know what is out there because it's a real threat.”
Michelle Milford Morse of UN Foundation explained to the crowd gathered at the NYC event that these kinds of abuses have compounding impacts on victims. “More than half of young women are experiencing some form of abuse and harassment online, sometimes as young as eight,” she said. “I don't think that we're thinking enough about the accumulation of that over time and the real harm to their mental health.”
But technology, when used for good, is also a powerful tool that can help close the gender gap. Microsoft’s Vickie Robinson described the importance of connectivity and digital skills. Of the estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide who lack internet access, the majority are women and girls.
“It's critically important, now more than ever, we need to make sure that we close the digital divide once and for all, but that we bring along with that the skills, we make it affordable, we make it accessible,” Robinson said.
The conversation then turned to leadership, and the need for more women in positions of authority in all industries and sectors of public life.
“Parliaments and legislators that have more women, they prioritize social services for children and the most vulnerable. When they engage in peace agreements, those peace agreements last longer. They're more likely to protect biodiversity,” said Morse. “There is no argument for half our human family to be shut out of society.”
The program was part of the Global Stage series and produced by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the United Nations Foundation. The series features politicians, private sector leaders, and renowned experts in conversation about issues at the intersection of technology, geopolitics and society.
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How AI is changing the world of work
The AI revolution is coming… fast. But what does that mean for your job? GZERO World with Ian Bremmer takes a deep dive into this exciting and anxiety-inducing new era of generative artificial intelligence. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney have the potential to increase productivity and prosperity massively, but there are also fears of job replacement and unequal access to technology.
Ian Bremmer sat down with tech expert Azeem Azhar and organizational psychologist Adam Grant on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to hear how CEOs are already incorporating AI into their businesses, what the future of work might look like as AI tools become more advanced, and what the experts are still getting wrong about the most powerful technology to hit the workforce since the personal computer.
“One of the dangers of last year was that people started to lose their faith in technology and technology is what provides prosperity,” Azhar says, “We need to have more grownup conversations, more civil conversations, more moderate conversations about what that reality is.
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television every week or on US public television. Check local listings.
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Ian Explains: How will AI impact the workplace?
Generative AI could increase productivity and prosperity... but also replace jobs and increase global inequality.
As long as humans have been inventing new technology, they’ve worried it will replace their jobs. From Ancient Greece to Elizabethan England, people feared machines and automation would eliminate the need for human labor. Hundreds of years later, the same conversation is happening around artificial intelligence—the most powerful technology to hit the workforce since the personal computer.
On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer looks at the history of human anxiety about being replaced by machines and the impact this new AI era will have on today’s workers. Will AI be the productivity booster CEOs hope for, or the job-killer employees fear? Experts are torn. Goldman Sachs predicts a $7 trillion increase in global GDP over the next decade from advances in AI, but the International Monetary Fund estimates that AI will negatively impact 40% of all jobs globally in the same time frame.
Human capital has been the powerhouse of economic growth for most of history, but the unprecedented pace of advances in AI is stirring up excitement and deep anxieties about not only how we work but if we’ll work at all.
Watch the upcoming episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television this weekend (check local listings) and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.
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How robots will change the job market: Kai-Fu Lee predicts
How will artificial intelligence change the world and especially the job market by 2041? AI scientist Kai-fu Lee just wrote a book about precisely that, and he predicts it'll shake up almost every major industry. AI, he explains, will be most disruptive to many so-called "routine" occupations, but the damage may be reduced by shifting "empathetic" workers to jobs that require human empathy. Watch his interview on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: Is a robot coming for your job? Kai-fu Lee explains AI