Mass amounts of disinformation generated by artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a serious challenge to Taiwan’s international diplomacy, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roy Lee (李淳) said yesterday.
Lee made the comments on the sidelines of the Taiwan Internet Governance Forum in Taipei, expressing concern that AI could be used to flood social media with false news reports.
Fighting disinformation of domestic or Chinese origin has become an important function of the nation’s diplomacy, which is being complicated by the rise of new technologies, he said.
Photo: Hsu Tzu-ling, Taipei Times
AI-boosted disinformation campaigns are significantly more difficult for the government to counter, he said, adding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Digital Affairs convened the conference in a bid to bolster national resiliency in the digital age.
A solution to the challenges posed by AI would have to address problems across economic, diplomatic and military domains, he said.
Part of the forum’s agenda is for Taiwan to coordinate and communicate with its international cybersecurity partners, many of whom are to take part in planned nationwide cyber war games later this month, Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said.
Observers representing foreign governments and security entities would be involved in pre-game discussions and post-game analysis, in addition to the simulated attacks and defense during the exercises, Tang said.
The observers’ roles in the games would be disclosed in greater detail at a later time, she said.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs is working on several concurrent projects to enhance infrastructure resilience, she said in a follow-up to Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan’s (鄭文燦) comments on Tuesday about a comprehensive plan to back up key government systems.
These projects include an effort to create remote backup sites that enable the preservation and recovery of key data should a catastrophic event damage data storage centers or telecommunication lines, Tang said.
Estonia’s digital resilience project is one of the models the Ministry of Digital Affairs is utilizing to implement its program, she said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS