FORUM: Special Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2

QUESTION OF: Artificial Intelligence regarding misinformation and disinformation

SUBMITTED BY: United Republic of Tanzania

CO-SUBMITTERS: Austria, Cuba, Ethiopia, Guyana, Honduras, Iraq, Jordan, Maldives, Malta, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United States of America, Venezuela

THE SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE,

Recognizes the importance of media literacy education, especially for young people, to critically evaluate information and identify credible sources, in order to tackle the issue of disinformation,    

Recalling Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood,

Further recognizing the efforts of the AI Governance Alliance created by The World Economic Forum, in developing pragmatic recommendations through collaboration to ensure that artificial intelligence is developed and deployed responsibly, ethically, and for the greatest benefit of humanity,

Bearing in mind The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) which is a Joint Development Foundation project, formed through an alliance between Adobe, Arm, Intel, Microsoft, and Truepic, which addresses the prevalence of misleading information online through the development of technical standards for certifying the source and history, or provenance, of media content,

1. Encourages the creation of Transparency and Integrity Monitoring for United Networks (TIMUN), which will run under the United Nations (UN) and focus on combating misinformation by:

1. developing frameworks to ensure AI-generated content is clearly labeled, carrying unique watermarks and its origins are traceable, preventing the spread of deceptive information by collaborating with major digital platforms in order to implement these standards globally and publishing regular reports that analyze trends in misinformation and the effectiveness of the watermarks in combating it
2. creating interactive resources and videos that explain how misinformation spreads and how to identify credible information, publishing these resources on social media platforms to raise public awareness
3. hosting annual conferences to bring together governments, tech leaders, and civil society to discuss AI and misinformation challenges with sharing practices that have been previously done and shown success, and negotiating international agreements to match AI and misinformation regulations globally;

2. Recommends the creation of software called ClarityAI to perform fact-checking practices, which will flag misinformation by:

1. creating an AI-powered platform to monitor global online networks for signs of misinformation, including deepfakes and AI-manipulated media
2. maintaining an open database of flagged content, which will allow tech platforms and governments to access and share verified cases of misinformation
3. following a similar structure for the creation of the software to the one that was created on the research that was done by Tanzanian researchers on misleading information related to COVID-19 in the Accelerator Lab;  

3. Suggests the establishment of public awareness programs to raise awareness on misinformation and disinformation caused by AI by:

1. conducting webinars and conferences for the public given by experts appointed by TIMUN
2. creating a website for TIMUN which will have the resources mentioned in the previous clauses, as well as additional information on initiatives on the issue
3. collaborating with willing governments to have seminars at high schools to teach young people about the threats that AI poses and how it could be used and identified as safe
4. collaborating with public figures;  

4. Calls upon relevant stakeholders including governments, international organizations, academic institutions, and private sector entities to produce comprehensive reports that will:

1. analyze the consequences of misinformation and disinformation in different fields such as its effects on public trust and democratic processes
2. evaluate the success of existing regulatory frameworks, tools, and public awareness campaigns to identify gaps in current approaches and areas that require improvement, and provide actionable recommendations for developing and implementing new technologies and regulations
3. be published at regular intervals and be open to the public to maintain consistency and track long-term progress while being transparent  
4. be monitored by the UN to ensure transparency and impartiality;  

5. Urges international collaboration to enhance the already existing frameworks, regulations, and other solutions presented, by:

1. expanding the scope of regulations such as the EU Digital Service Act and other similar international standards, possibly creating a new regulation under the UN with updated measures
2. making sure all of the projects are being funded accordingly with the cooperation of the World Bank and the IMF, making sure training and access to advanced technologies is not an issue
3. supporting independent fact-checking platforms, such as PolitiFact, and promoting collaboration between fact-checkers and digital platforms;  

6. Requests the creation of a reporting platform that enables individuals and stakeholders that will allow users to flag content suspected as being false, manipulated, or misleading on digital platforms by:

1. employing advanced AI machines, described in clause 2 to check the content
2. provide the users with clear and transparent results concerning the content they flagged
3. enabling direct communication with platforms and authorities to address harmful or malicious content during crises or elections;  

7. Calls for the United Nations to encourage Member States to establish anti-hate-crime legislation that promotes a culture of tolerance and peace, based on respect for human rights and the diversity of religions and beliefs in order to engage countries in combating discrimination and foster mutual understanding by:

1. conducting public awareness campaigns about different religions worldwide designed to dispel negative myths and misconceptions including those about Muslims and Islam by:

1. organizing forums and workshops that bring together religious leaders, policymakers, and civil society to foster interfaith dialogue and mutual respect
2. promoting digital literacy campaigns to educate individuals on identifying and combating online religious hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation

2. working with social media platforms to develop and enforce guidelines for identifying and removing hate speech and defamatory content related to religion;

8. Further Encourages developing countries that have not done so yet to take up data sovereignty in order to better protect their data, increase the relevance in datasets that are used for AI training, and combat AI disinformation, while expecting that:

1. funding provided by developed countries and the International Monetary Fund would be put towards building technical infrastructure for developing countries
2. countries would work with tech and data companies to create tools for managing data
3. laws are made to protect and enable citizens to identify AI content, which involves companies and social media platforms taking the initiative by labeling AI-generated content and screening uploaded content
4. discussions have started to find solutions that can be developed to alleviate the concerns of countries about inadequate or incompatible legal regimes when it comes to cross-border data flows.