<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/14/democracies-face-truth-decay-as-ai-blurs-fact-and-fiction-warns-head-of-australias-military>
"Australia’s top military leader has warned that democracies will be vulnerable
to “truth decay” as artificial intelligence tools eventually leave citizens
struggling to sift fact from fiction.
Gen Angus Campbell, the chief of the Australian Defence Force, accused Russia
of wielding disinformation as “a weapon of statecraft” in the United States and
the United Kingdom. Such campaigns could increasingly be used to fracture “the
trust that binds us”.
Campbell also warned of increasing disruption sparked by the climate crisis,
saying if the world failed to take stronger collective action, “we may all be
humbled by a planet made angry by our collective neglect”.
Addressing an Australian Strategic Policy Institute conference on Thursday
evening, Campbell said rapid advances in technology were occurring at the same
time as increasing great power competition.
“Today, we are more connected and have access to more information than any
other time in history – and also more disinformation,” Campbell told the
conference.
“We rightly pride ourselves on being an open, diverse and liberal society – in
other words, exposed.
“Healthy and functioning societies such as ours depend upon a well-informed and
engaged citizenry. Unfortunately, it is often said, we are increasingly living
in a post-truth world where perceptions and emotions often trump facts.”
Campbell said the Soviet Union regularly engaged in campaigns to discredit or
damage the United States and its allies during the cold war.
“Building on this inheritance, the Russian Federation wielded disinformation as
a weapon of statecraft in the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential election and
the Brexit referendum,” he said.
“While the overarching intent of the Soviet and Russian disinformation
campaigns were the same, what sets them apart is the Russian Federation’s use
of novel technologies to enhance the scale, speed and spread of their efforts."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
