WEF: Misinformation, Weather Top Worldwide Risks
2024-01-11
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1A report from the World Economic Forum says misinformation and disinformation are the most severe risks facing the world over the next two years.
2The group released its latest Global Risks Report Wednesday.
3The report said artificial intelligence (AI) can increase false or misleading information and is an immediate risk to the worldwide economy.
4The World Economic Forum (WEF) report warned that bad information threatens to weaken democracy and polarize groups of people.
5The report is based on a survey of nearly 1,500 experts, industry leaders, and politicians.
6It is being released before the yearly WEF meeting in the vacation town of Davos, Switzerland.
7The writers are concerned that the fast progress of AI technology like ChatGPT might mean that groups can be manipulated by people without any specialized skills.
8AI will be discussed next week at the Davos meeting.
9Technology company leaders including OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Microsoft head Satya Nadella, and industry experts like Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, are expected to attend.
10The report says misinformation and disinformation that is created using AI is becoming a risk just as billions of people in several countries are going to vote this year and next year.
11Those countries include the United States, Britain, Indonesia, India, Mexico, and Pakistan.
12Carolina Klint is a risk expert at Marsh, whose parent company Marsh McLennan co-wrote the report with Zurich Insurance Group.
13She said people can use AI to make deepfakes and to really affect large groups "...which really drives misinformation."
14Deepfakes are videos that contain realistic images which are false and show people doing and saying things that never happened.
15"Societies could become further polarized" as people find it harder to tell what is true, she said.
16False information also could be used to fuel questions about whether governments are elected fairly.
17 Klint said, that "... means that democratic processes could be eroded, and it would also drive societal polarization even further."
18The rise of AI brings other risks, she said.
19It could give power to harmful actors by making it easier to carry out online attacks.
20Klint said with AI, a person does not need to be intelligent to become a harmful actor.
21It can even affect data that is taken from the internet to develop other AI systems.
22She said this is difficult to correct and could result in further bias in AI systems.
23The report said extreme weather is the second most worrying short term risk.
24The report also said that, over the next 10 years, extreme weather events were more important than misinformation and disinformation.
25Weather was followed by environmental risks that include changes to the Earth's systems; loss of wildlife and collapse of natural systems; and shortages of natural resources.
26I'm Gregory Stachel.
1A report from the World Economic Forum says misinformation and disinformation are the most severe risks facing the world over the next two years. 2The group released its latest Global Risks Report Wednesday. 3The report said artificial intelligence (AI) can increase false or misleading information and is an immediate risk to the worldwide economy. The World Economic Forum (WEF) report warned that bad information threatens to weaken democracy and polarize groups of people. 4The report is based on a survey of nearly 1,500 experts, industry leaders, and politicians. It is being released before the yearly WEF meeting in the vacation town of Davos, Switzerland. 5The writers are concerned that the fast progress of AI technology like ChatGPT might mean that groups can be manipulated by people without any specialized skills. 6AI will be discussed next week at the Davos meeting. Technology company leaders including OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Microsoft head Satya Nadella, and industry experts like Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, are expected to attend. 7The report says misinformation and disinformation that is created using AI is becoming a risk just as billions of people in several countries are going to vote this year and next year. Those countries include the United States, Britain, Indonesia, India, Mexico, and Pakistan. 8Carolina Klint is a risk expert at Marsh, whose parent company Marsh McLennan co-wrote the report with Zurich Insurance Group. She said people can use AI to make deepfakes and to really affect large groups "...which really drives misinformation." 9Deepfakes are videos that contain realistic images which are false and show people doing and saying things that never happened. 10"Societies could become further polarized" as people find it harder to tell what is true, she said. False information also could be used to fuel questions about whether governments are elected fairly. Klint said, that "... means that democratic processes could be eroded, and it would also drive societal polarization even further." 11The rise of AI brings other risks, she said. It could give power to harmful actors by making it easier to carry out online attacks. 12Klint said with AI, a person does not need to be intelligent to become a harmful actor. 13It can even affect data that is taken from the internet to develop other AI systems. She said this is difficult to correct and could result in further bias in AI systems. 14The report said extreme weather is the second most worrying short term risk. 15The report also said that, over the next 10 years, extreme weather events were more important than misinformation and disinformation. Weather was followed by environmental risks that include changes to the Earth's systems; loss of wildlife and collapse of natural systems; and shortages of natural resources. 16I'm Gregory Stachel. 17Gregory Stachel adapted this story for VOA Learning English using information from Reuters and The Associated Press. 18________________________________________________ 19Words in This Story 20polarize - v. to cause (people or opinions) to separate into opposing groups 21survey -n. a kind of study in which a group of people are asked their opinions about a subject 22manipulate - v. to deal with or control (someone or something) in a clever and usually unfair or selfish way 23society - n. people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values 24erode - v. to gradually destroy something or make it weaker over a period of time; to be destroyed or made weaker in this way 25bias - n. a tendency to support one side of an argument over another