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.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
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