The Central Election Commission (CEC) has been named a founding member of the Artificial Intelligence Advisory Group on Elections (AI AGE) launched on Thursday by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Washington.
The group includes election officials and technology experts from countries including Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia and Kenya, with Taiwan the only representative from East Asia.
Cyber ambassador Audrey Tang (唐鳳), who is also the former minister of digital affairs, is a founding member of the group, and serves in a technologist role.
Photo: Taipei Times
“Those in the pay of authoritarian forces are undermining electoral processes, weaponizing [artificial intelligence] AI and employing our societal strengths against us,” Tang said.
However, Taiwan formulated its approach around “pre-bunking” and explaining manipulation tactics without the need to “resort to censorship,” she said.
A democratic approach of “cogoverning AI with the people” is the way forward, she added.
It is “crucial that AI is trained to serve the greater good, while unlocking our collective wisdom and building a more accountable and participatory digital society,” Tang said.
IFES Global Digital Democracy Advisor Lisa Poggiali said that Taiwan has been at the “forefront of so many interesting Digital Democracy initiatives.”
The Taiwan model is “valuable,” because it thinks about “ethical and human rights oriented conversation, and security conversations from the beginning in the educational system,” she said.
The IFES has worked in more than 145 countries since 1987, “building resilient democracies that deliver for everyone,” its Web site says.
The AI AGE would address key issues at the intersection of AI and elections, including biometric identification, data governance, content authenticity and information integrity, the group’s launch video said.
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