A Victoria councillor is using AI technology, to call for regulation of AI technology.
“Hi, I’m not Jeremy Caradonna. I’m a fabricated visual representation that looks like him and kinda sounds like him,” says a video representation of the city councillor. The artificial intelligence version aims to highlight how easy it is to have authentic-looking digital creations dispense false information and fabricated content.
“If I were generated by a malicious person, I could make this lifelike direction say whatever I want. It’s not hard to imagine how these technologies could spread disinformation and undermine the very principles of representative government. So what will you as decision-makers do about it?”
Caradonna plans to ask his council to call on the Union of BC Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to push the provincial and federal governments to work collaboratively with local governments in creating reasonable and enforceable regulations of AI technologies that safeguard democracy and national sovereignty, mitigate social and political divisions, and proactively combat mis- and disinformation.
In the past few years, artificial intelligence has developed rapidly presenting both opportunities and challenges.
Benefits in fields as diverse as manufacturing, transportation and healthcare are undeniable, but so too is the ability to destabilize democracies by undermining the information voters and elected officials rely on to make decisions, he said.
“Collectively, from local governments to provinces and the federal government, we must come together and develop reasonable, rational, and enforceable regulations that safeguard everything we hold dear about democracy, while ensuring that AI can develop appropriately in relevant fields,” the real Caradonna said in a news release. “To reign in AI’s harms and threats, a concerted, whole-government approach is needed, as each level of government will face unique risks and concerns.”
Computer-generated content with an aura of truthfulness presents unique and immediate challenges and should be considered a national security threat that presents risks to all levels of government and the principles that uphold democratic society, he said.
Caradonna plans to seek council approval during the committee meeting April 2.
Motions would go to the annual conventions for UBCM – provincial voice for local governments – held Sept. 14 to 18 in Vancouver and its federal counterpart, FCM June 4 to 7 in Edmonton, Alta.
Find the full agenda and ways to participate online at victoria.ca.
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