AI Poses Threat to Democracy and Social Stability: WEF

With more than a dozen presidential elections looming in 2024, artificial intelligence (AI) has been identified as one of the most significant global risks in the coming years, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report for 2024. The report outlines that AI will impact democratic processes and social stability. 

Adverse outcomes related to AI technologies have entered the top 10 rankings of global risks, with the perceived severity of these risks deteriorating significantly over the longer-term horizon, according to the report. Concerns cited by those surveyed include misinformation and disinformation, job loss and displacement, criminal use, and cyberattacks, bias and discrimination, AI's integration into critical decision-making, and its application in weaponry and warfare. 

This issue will particularly affect nations with elections in the next two years, including Mexico. As electoral campaigns deal with information, technologies can be exploited to create and disseminate misinformation as genuine. 

“The disruptive capabilities of manipulated information are rapidly accelerating, as open access to increasingly sophisticated technologies proliferates and trust in information and institutions deteriorates,” reads the report. It anticipates that in the next two years, many will leverage easier access to technology that generates synthetic content to exacerbate societal divisions, ideological violence, and political repression, with consequences extending beyond the short term.

Among the countries with presidential elections in 2024 are Mexico, the United States, Venezuela, Russia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Tunisia, Romania, Moldova, Lithuania, Iceland, Georgia, Finland, Croatia, Taiwan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, and Algeria. Additionally, other countries will hold elections at the local and parliamentary level.

Synthetic content, as per the report, is expected to manipulate individuals, harm economies, and fragment societies in multiple ways over the next two years. Falsified information could be used for activities ranging from climate activism to conflict escalation, posing a potential threat to democratic processes. “If the legitimacy of elections is questioned, civil confrontation is possible – and could even expand to internal conflicts and terrorism, and state collapse in more extreme cases.”

“Unchecked proliferation of increasingly powerful, general-purpose AI technologies will radically reshape economies and societies over the coming decade – for better and for worse,” notes the report. Societal risks will be amplified by advancements in other technologies, such as quantum computing and synthetic biology. Intentional misuse is not necessary for profound implications; self-improving generative AI models could trigger large-scale changes to socioeconomic structures.