by Editor BGF | Feb 1, 2026 | News, Shaping Futures
As deepfakes become cheaper, faster, and more convincing, the familiar playbook—better detection, stricter platform rules, tougher laws—looks increasingly insufficient. A Financial Times–style argument gaining traction is that deepfakes are ultimately a democratic governance problem, not only a technical one.
The central proposition is simple: ask citizens what trade-offs they want. Through citizen assemblies, public consultations, and transparent rulemaking, democracies can define what counts as harmful manipulation, what must be labeled, which uses are legitimate (satire, art, accessibility), and what penalties apply for fraud, election interference, or non-consensual deepfake abuse. This approach also builds legitimacy for hard choices—such as watermarking standards, identity verification in high-risk contexts, fast-track takedowns during elections, and liability rules that apply across platforms.
This citizen-first approach echoes the “democracy-as-technology” mindset advanced by Audrey Tang (the 2025 World Leader in AIWS Award recipient): legitimacy comes from participation, transparency, and accountable public systems—not just from better algorithms. In practice, that means pairing technical defenses (provenance, labeling, detection) with durable civic infrastructure that helps society decide what to protect, what to allow, and who is responsible when synthetic media causes harm.
by Editor BGF | Feb 1, 2026 | News
The AIWS Angel Statue v1.0 — “The Light of Evidence” is a contemporary symbol of compassionate intelligence serving humanity. Created for the AIWS Health Center space, it communicates a clear message: in the age of artificial intelligence, guidance must be human-centered, evidence-based, and safety-bounded—supporting clinical authority and informed choice while protecting dignity and trust.
The sculpture presents a calm, universal human silhouette rising within a vertical beam of light. Two elegant arc panels—shaped like protective parentheses—surround the figure, expressing the guardrails that make advanced intelligence worthy of public confidence: ethics, transparency, responsibility, and accountability. The form is intentionally non-sectarian and inclusive, welcoming people of every culture, faith, and background.
Crafted in satin-finished stainless steel with frosted glass elements, the statue glows softly—evoking reassurance rather than spectacle. Its illumination symbolizes “the light of evidence”: the best available knowledge made visible, accessible, and actionable, without coercion. In this design, the “Angel” is not a mythic figure, but a modern commitment—an emblem of how AI should behave in healthcare: listening carefully, clarifying uncertainty, elevating verified knowledge, and supporting wise human decisions while honoring consent, privacy, and professional judgment.
The statue stands for the mission of AIWS Angel: to help people navigate complexity with calm, clarity, and safety—especially when decisions affect life and wellbeing. It invites every visitor to remember that true progress is not measured only by technological power, but by how faithfully we protect life, build trust, and advance peace through responsible innovation.
At the base, the inscription may read:
“AIWS ANGEL — Evidence. Safety. Humanity.”
— Presented by Boston Global Forum and the AI World Society Family.
by Editor BGF | Feb 1, 2026 | Papers & Reports, News, Publications
Boston Global Forum – AI World Society Family
February 2026
We, the Boston Global Forum and the AI World Society Family, stand in solidarity with the Iranian people at this decisive moment in February 2026.
The uprising that began in late 2025 is far more than a protest against economic ruin and repression. It is the voice of an ancient civilization demanding rebirth: Woman, Life, Freedom — the same moral imperative that arose after the killing of Mahsa Amini in 2022, now grown into an irreversible refusal of isolation, fear, corruption, and the systematic stifling of human potential.
The regime’s answer—prolonged internet shutdowns, violence, and mass arrests—has deepened national trauma and accelerated the demand for change. Yet precisely in this darkness lies Iran’s greatest opportunity in centuries: to reclaim its civilizational genius and rebirth itself through ethical intelligence, inclusive innovation, and humanistic renewal in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
Core Vision: Iran Reborn within the AI World Society Framework
We envision a New Iran that honors its 2,500-year legacy of philosophy, science, poetry, mathematics, and human dignity while becoming one of the world’s leading exemplars of wise, humane AI guided by the AI World Society (AIWS) Framework.
The AIWS Framework—developed since 2017 by the Boston Global Forum—provides an ethical, architectural, and governance blueprint for this rebirth. Its core principles include:
Human Dignity & Human-in-Command
AI must always serve life and never become an instrument of suppression. Every AI system in the New Iran will be built with ethics-by-design, human-in-command safeguards, transparency, and accountability at the center.
We reject surveillance authoritarianism. The New Iran will build privacy-protecting, auditable AI that safeguards women, youth, ethnic and religious minorities, and all who seek truth and justice—through enforceable data rights, independent oversight, and public accountability.
Woman, Life, Freedom as the Ethical Foundation of AIWS-Iran
Gender equality is non-negotiable and will be the moral litmus test for every AI policy, algorithm, and deployment. AI will empower women and girls in education, entrepreneurship, digital health, creative industries, and governance—dismantling patriarchal control rather than reinforcing it.
Inclusive Economic & Social Renaissance
Iran’s exceptionally talented youth deserve an economy of creativity and merit. Under the AIWS Framework, ethical AI can:
- Restore public trust through transparent, tamper-proof financial and procurement systems that fight corruption
- Generate millions of dignified jobs in ethical AI, green technologies, digital medicine, cultural preservation, and knowledge services
- Reverse brain drain by making Iran a global magnet for talent through open internet, academic freedom, and international collaboration
- Solve existential challenges—water scarcity, agriculture, and climate resilience—turning crisis into sustainable opportunity
Normalization and Openness with the United States and Global Reconnection
Iran must end self-imposed digital, intellectual, and diplomatic isolation. We call for normalization and openness with the United States—diplomatic, economic, cultural, scientific, and technological—founded on mutual respect, regional stability, and a shared interest in peaceful progress.
Normalization and openness will enable Iran to join the global AI World Society movement, adopt open and ethical AI standards, collaborate freely with leading American universities—Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University—as well as technology innovators and civil society, and participate as an equal partner in humanity’s AI century.
Global reconnection also means renewed engagement with international institutions, scientific networks, cultural communities, and the Iranian diaspora worldwide—so Iran’s future is built through openness, learning, and cooperation, not isolation.
Truth, Reconciliation, and Restorative Justice
A New Iran cannot be built on denial or vengeance. The AIWS Framework supports secure, privacy-preserving tools for documenting past violations, identifying systemic patterns of abuse, preserving collective memory, enabling healing, and supporting accountability without cycles of retribution.
We affirm a path of justice that is lawful, transparent, and humane—protecting due process, honoring victims, and preventing future abuses—so the nation can heal and move forward together.
To the Iranian People
You are not alone.
Your demand for dignity, freedom, creativity, and justice is aligned with the deepest promise of the AI World Society: that intelligence—both human and artificial—must serve conscience, life, and human dignity.
To the International Community — Especially the United States
Stand with the Iranian people through moral clarity and practical solidarity: support secure communication and open information flows, protect civil society and digital rights defenders, resist censorship and disinformation, and prepare to build long-term partnership once Iran chooses openness.
Normalization and openness with the United States is not a concession—it is a strategic necessity for peace, prosperity, and shared leadership in the ethical AI Age.
Final Affirmation
Iran is not condemned to perpetual repression.
Iran is not destined for isolation in the AI century.
With one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, extraordinary resilience, and a new generation ready to lead, Iran can become a great society demonstrating—under the AI World Society Framework—that intelligence, human and artificial, can and must serve dignity, freedom, life, and love.
This is our manifesto.
This is our shared hope.
This is the call for A New Iran: A Civilization Reborn with the AI World Society Framework.
Boston Global Forum – AI World Society Family
February 2026
by Editor BGF | Feb 1, 2026 | Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security, News
- Polling snapshot: Opinion polls cited in The Statesman say Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is on track to win a standalone majority in the Feb. 8, 2026 lower house election—an outcome that would give Sanae Takaichi a clearer mandate and consolidate her hold on power.
- Why this election is closely watched: The campaign is being scrutinized because the LDP is running without the backing of long-time coalition partner Komeito (after 26 years of governing together) and without formal coordination with its current junior partner, the Japan Innovation Party.
- Takaichi’s Abe lineage: The article notes that Takaichi served in multiple cabinet posts under former premiers Shinzo Abe and Fumio Kishida—a reminder that her leadership style and strategic instincts are often read through the lens of Abe-era governance.
- The strategic gamble: Analysts cited in the piece argue that dissolving the lower house and calling an early election—effectively putting her leadership on the line—reflects internal pressures and a desire to strengthen authority through a fresh popular mandate.
Please see full here: https://www.thestatesman.com/world/opinion-polls-suggest-japans-ruling-ldp-may-retain-power-1503548793.html/amp
by Editor BGF | Feb 1, 2026 | World Leader for Peace and Security, News, World Leaders in AIWS Award Updates
Tokyo’s strategy, as described by Reuters, is to use the Feb. 8 snap election to give Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi—a 2023 World Leader in AIWS Award recipient and BGF Global Enlightenment Leader—a stronger mandate.
“China may rethink its escalating pressure campaign on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi if she delivers a resounding victory in a February 8 snap election, say current and former Japanese officials and political analysts.
Weeks after taking office last year, Takaichi touched off the biggest diplomatic dispute with Beijing in over a decade, by publicly outlining how Tokyo might respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by China.”
Please see full here: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/tokyo-hopes-voters-will-hand-pm-takaichi-new-clout-counter-china-2026-01-29/
by Editor BGF | Feb 1, 2026 | News
AIWS Health Center: The Infrastructure for “Precision Longevity” and Total Prevention
AIWS Health enters a new chapter: the era of Precision Longevity, where advanced AI can decode biology and disease pathways at a depth that today’s medicine cannot reliably reach. The likely impact is transformative—AI will not merely “assist” clinicians; it may out-diagnose top specialists in many pattern-heavy domains by integrating signals across labs, imaging, genomics, lifestyle, and population-level evidence at massive scale.
This capability forces a strategic shift in healthcare: from treating illness after it appears to Total Prevention—anticipating risk, detecting disease at its earliest stage, and optimizing long-term healthspan (years lived in good health). In that context, the AIWS Health Center is designed as a leapfrog model: rather than building hundreds of traditional hospitals as the default path, societies can prioritize AI-driven early diagnostics and prevention hubs that keep populations healthier, reduce hospital admissions, and lower the national burden of chronic disease before it starts.
An AIWS Health Center functions as a “health command hub” for individuals, families, and communities, combining human care teams with trusted AI systems to deliver:
- Superintelligent Diagnostics: early detection and risk prediction across physical and mental health.
- Personalized Prevention Plans: tailored protocols based on individual biology, behavior, and environment.
- Continuous Monitoring & Coaching: longitudinal tracking, early warnings, and practical guidance to sustain healthy habits.
- Human-Centered, Ethical Care: clinician-in-the-loop decisions, transparency, privacy protection, and compassionate communication.
- Population Health Impact: anonymized insights that help health systems and policymakers target prevention and resilience.
In short, the AIWS Health Center is prevention infrastructure for the AI age—built to keep people well, extend healthy longevity, and reduce healthcare costs and suffering by shifting the system’s center of gravity from hospitals to continuous, AI-enabled health protection.
by Editor BGF | Feb 1, 2026 | Global Alliance for Digital Governance
At the AI x Democracy Forum in Taipei, Taiwan’s foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, argued that Taiwan’s democratic development and technological innovation have been intertwined since 1987—and that the AI era now raises new tests for cities and democracies.
Lin drew a symbolic through-line from 1987—when martial law ended and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was founded by Morris Chang—to Taiwan’s modern democratic consolidation, noting 2026 marks 30 years since Taiwan’s first direct presidential election in 1996. He emphasized that Taiwan’s democracy is rooted in local autonomy, citing local elections dating back to 1950, and said effective local government must reflect daily civic life while strengthening democracy over the long term.
Speaking from his experience as Taichung mayor, Lin said smart applications helped solve urban governance problems—but warned that “malicious” actors can exploit information technology to manipulate narratives, increase division, and make public consensus harder to reach. He framed AI as a paradigm shift that can either upgrade urban governance or introduce new vulnerabilities.
The international forum was organized by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and hosted by former digital minister Audrey Tang, the 2025 World Leader in AIWS Award Recipient. It convened local-government participants and international organizations from Europe, North America, and Latin America—and included a public-facing format experiment: a debate featuring academics and AI chatbots on technology’s role in policymaking.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/01/28/2003851347
by Editor BGF | Jan 25, 2026 | News
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
January 23, 2026
His Excellency General Secretary Tô Lâm
Communist Party of Viet Nam
Hà Nội, Viet Nam
Your Excellency General Secretary Tô Lâm,
On behalf of the Boston Global Forum (BGF), I extend my warmest congratulations to you and the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam on the successful conclusion of the 14th National Party Congress. This important milestone reflects the Party’s unity, strategic vision, and commitment to advancing Viet Nam’s prosperity and long-term national development.
BGF has followed with great respect your emphasis on serving the people and strengthening governance capacity in a rapidly transforming global environment. In the Age of Artificial Intelligence, we believe Viet Nam’s success will be shaped not only by economic performance, but also by the quality of institutions, the ethical direction of innovation, and the ability to mobilize knowledge for national renewal.
The Boston Global Forum will continue to support Viet Nam in the months ahead, building upon the High-Level Roundtable held in London on October 28, 2025. We remain committed to constructive cooperation with Viet Nam’s leaders, experts, and institutions—sharing ideas, international experience, and practical frameworks that can contribute to human-centered and trustworthy AI development through the AI World Society (AIWS).
BGF is honored to present to you two special books that we believe are timely for this historic moment:
• America at 250: A Beacon for the AI Age
• Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy
We hope these works will be useful resources for dialogue and reflection on building a new society, collaborative technology, and responsible governance—topics increasingly vital to all nations as AI reshapes economies and societies.
Please accept, Your Excellency, my highest consideration and best wishes for your leadership and for the continued progress of Viet Nam.
Respectfully,
Michael S. Dukakis
Co-Founder and Chair, Boston Global Forum
Three-term Governor of Massachusetts
1988 Democratic Presidential Nominee
by Editor BGF | Jan 25, 2026 | Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security, News
Tokyo, Jan. 23, 2026 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the 2023 World Leader in AIWS Award Recipient, dissolved the Lower House of Parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a snap general election on Feb. 8, 2026. The move, anticipated amid rising political tensions and economic challenges, aims to secure a fresh mandate for her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government as Japan navigates post-pandemic recovery and geopolitical pressures in the Asia-Pacific region.
Takaichi, who took office in October 2024 after winning the LDP leadership race, cited the need for “decisive action” on key issues such as inflation, defense spending, and AI-driven economic reforms. “This election will be about choosing stability and innovation in an uncertain world,” she stated in a press conference following the dissolution. The decision comes just months after her administration rolled out ambitious AI governance standards inspired by international frameworks like the Boston Finance Accord.
The opposition, led by the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), criticized the snap poll as a tactic to avoid scrutiny over recent scandals and slow growth. CDP leader Kenta Izumi called it “a desperate bid for power amid declining public trust.” Polls show the LDP holding a narrow lead, but voter turnout and youth participation could sway results, especially with debates on AI ethics and digital rights gaining traction.
The Feb. 8 election will test Takaichi’s vision for a “resilient Japan,” including her push for ethical AI integration in national security and economy. Analysts predict a fragmented Diet if opposition gains ground, potentially slowing her reforms.
For more details, visit: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/23/japan/politics/diet-dissolves/
