by Editor | Jul 29, 2024 | Event Updates, News
Amma, renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader, continues her tour in North America with a visit to Massachusetts and New England. Governor Michael Dukakis, Chair of Boston Global Forum, and BGF Board Members – CEO Nguyen Anh Tuan, Professors Alex Pentland and Thomas Patterson – will meet and discuss with Amma on August 1, 2024 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. BGF will present Amma with a special edition.
Read more about Amma’s visit and event on her website: https://us.amma.org/meeting-amma/north-america/newengland
July 31 – August 2
Best Western Royal Plaza and Trade Center
181 Boston Post Rd W
Marlborough, MA 01752
United States
From July 25-29: “In #Washington, DC, Amma lead prayers for world #peace. Said Brahmachari Chidanandamrita in a spiritual talk, ‘When our heart gets overwhelmed with #love, logic fails. I have often felt that there is only one quality that distinguishes Amma from us. If we can assimilate that one quality, we can also become Amma. Yes. We can all become Amma. That one quality we need to develop is unconditional love.’”
Amma’s programs in Washington conclude on July 29.
by Editor | Jul 29, 2024 | Global Alliance for Digital Governance
To revolutionize the fight against disinformation, a four-year innovation action, AI4Debunk, has been launched January 2024. Funded by the European Union (EU) through the Horizon Europe Programme, the project brings together an interdisciplinary consortium of 13 partner entities from eight countries towards a shared mission: to support trustworthy online activity by providing citizens with human-centered AI-powered tools. Professor Zaneta Ozolina, Representative of the Boston Global Forum in Riga has joined the AI4Debunk program.
Learn more about the project on its website: ai4debunk.eu
In recent years, the proliferation of disinformation has become a major issue across Europe. The communication during COVID-19 crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is ‘war-like’ as the EU has been engaged in the “infodemic” global battle of narratives. Geo-political component of “infodemic” are very challenging as foreign actors, in particular Russia and China, are very experienced in organising toxic disinformation campaigns, using various manipulating techniques and destructive narratives for “anti-EU” propaganda in their struggle for influence. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions can serve as a powerful tool in debunking disinformation. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has said: “AI is already changing our everyday lives. And this is just the beginning. Used wisely and widely, AI promises huge benefits to our economy and society.”
Partners who will participate and are in charge of the successful implementation of AI4Debunk: University of Latvia (Latvia) – project coordinator, EURACTIV, Pilot4DEV, University of Mons (Belgium). Internews Ukraine (Ukraine), National Research Council of Italy, University of Florence (Italy), Barcelona Supercomputing Center (Spain), DOTSOFT (Greece), University of Galway, F6S Innovation (Ireland), University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, INNoVaTiVe POWER (the Netherlands).
Involving various stakeholders, from media professionals to software developers and AI experts, this new EU project takes a holistic approach to fighting disinformation through Human-AI collaboration. It will be validated with two case studies: Russian propaganda related to the war in Ukraine and manipulated content on climate change.
AI4Debunk aims to develop four human-centered AI-powered interfaces: a web plug-in, a collaborative platform, a smartphone app, and an Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality interface based on the first-of-its-kind open-source debunking API.
The plug-in will be designed for seamless integration with web browsers and social media platforms, delivering instant notifications to users when they encounter false content, regardless of the format. As for the collaborative platform (Disinfopedia), it will allow proactive users to report suspicious content, which will then be checked by human experts and potentially removed from circulation. The app, in turn, will enable people to detect disinformation in everyday life directly through their smartphone. Lastly, the AR/VR interface will provide guidelines on how to deal with disinformation in future AR/VR-based social media.
AI4Debunk’s interfaces cover different needs – from real-time analysis of multimodal content to community-driven reporting and immersive experiences. These will provide citizens with a comprehensive set of fact-checking resources to navigate the digital media landscape more consciously and make informed decisions. These interfaces will also be innovatively and playfully designed for educational purposes to help students become discerning consumers of information. By promoting transparency, accuracy, and responsible engagement with online platforms, AI4Debunk strives to foster critical thinking and reinforce the fabric of a healthy democracy.
by Editor | Jul 29, 2024 | News
The internet is facing a range of threats that could imperil both the technology and the people who use it, according to the people who helped create it.
We are becoming increasingly reliant on a technology that is more fragile than we realise and we could be plunged into a “digital dark ages” that will leave us unable to access our own history, warned Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the internet” and recipient of the 2019 World Leader in AIWS Award.
The web is also becoming an increasingly central part of our life but that means “there are consequences when it doesn’t work as intended” or used by malicious people, he warned. As the internet becomes nearly ubiquitous, it has allowed people to use it for damaging purposes, such as ransomware, he warned.
“The consequences of [the increasing availability of the internet] are that it’s accessible to the general public, which it wasn’t in its early evolution,” he said. And the consequences of that are that some parts of the general public do not necessarily mean well, and so their access to the technologies enabling, in many ways, very constructive ways, but also in some very disruptive.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/vint-cerf-father-internet-b2582067.html
by Editor | Jul 29, 2024 | News
Takaichi’s book provides a detailed analysis of Japan’s newly established security clearance system and how it aids national and economic security.
In her latest book, Minister of Economic Security Sanae Takaichi explores Japan’s strategies for safeguarding critical information amid rising global threats. The work is titled Japan’s Economic Security: Protecting the Nation and Its People (Nihon no keizai anzen hoshō kokka kokumin o mamoru ōgonritsu, Asukashinsha, 2024). However, currently it is available only in Japanese.
Central to the book is Japan’s newly established security clearance system, introduced in June 2024. It enforces rigorous vetting for accessing classified national and economic data. Modeled on practices from G7 countries and Australia, the system includes thorough background checks as well as assessments to prevent information leaks.
In her book, Takaichi also highlights Japan’s initiatives in managing space debris and advancing fusion energy technology. She details Japan’s leadership in incorporating space debris management into the G7 agenda. In line with the aim of boosting Japan’s energy self-sufficiency, she further outlines the Fusion Energy Innovation strategy.
https://japan-forward.com/book-review-japans-economic-security-protecting-the-nation-and-its-people-by-sanae-takaichi/
by Editor | Jul 22, 2024 | News
There are decades where weeks happen, and weeks where decades happen. THat is certainly true of the past couple of months in not just American issues, but the whole Four Pillars space as well.
In Europe, it is now formally official that Ursula von der Leyen, the 2020 World Peace and Security Award recipient, has been re-elected as president of the European Commission. This gives Europe a renewed strong hand of leadership, actively promoting the position of the EU and the continent as a major bloc and strengthening the unity of the bloc too. A strong Europe is a strong Pillar.
The main course this week is, of course, Biden’s decision to no longer seek reelection. He will be serving the rest of this term, and has chosen VP Kamala Harris as the heir-apparent to the nomination. Even though the past two months can be characterized by stubbornness, his administration and its foreign policy objectives have been critical to restoring normalcy and strengthening the alliance networks that one can now see taking shape in the Four Pillars. Policies such as the CHIPS Act, the renewed commitment to Japan, South Korea, and NATO, and the approach with India are important to the groundworks of the Four Pillars. We would like to thank his Cincinnatian decision and the frameworks set up during his term.
On the other side of the aisle, Trump has selected the junior Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. Rather than a moderate pick, he instead has doubled down on American isolationism. Vance has openly expressed his contempt for Ukraine’s resistance against Russian invasion. Both of these men have also signaled willingness to throw the Pillars (Japan, India, Europe) and Taiwan under the bus vis-a-vis Chinese aggression. In other words, the implications of a Trump victory spells disaster for the Four Pillars’ mission in preserving and defending the rules-based order.
Hopefully, being unburdened by the weight of fear of China’s economic rise and growing political influence, the Four Pillars can imagine an alliance or platform to protect democracy, peace, and security in the Asia-Pacific and across the world.
Article of the week – Expanding AUKUS Pillar 2: An Inclusive Indo-Pacific Alliance Structure [Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies]
Minh Nguyen is the Chief Editor of the Boston Global Forum and a Shinzo Abe Initiative Fellow. She writes the Four Pillars column in the BGF Weekly newsletter.
