Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang Attended the Copenhagen Democracy Summit via Video Conference, Sharing Taiwan's Experience in Democratic Deliberation as a Response to the Challenges Posed by the Development of Generative AI.
The Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2024 took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 14th and 15th, featuring a hybrid format of online and on-site meetings. Minister Tang was invited to participate alongside Leopoldo López, a Venezuelan freedom advocate, and Suzanne Lynch, author of Politico's "Global Playbook," engaging in discussions on the theme of "Restoring our Digital Freedom."
During the summit, Minister Tang noted the increased spread of synthesized polarized opinions online with the rise of generative AI technology. Therefore, she advocated for the proactive approach of "pre-bunking," addressing misinformation before it spreads, aiming to foster mutual trust rather than merely correcting errors. Research shows that effective pre-bunking helps expose manipulative tactics, empowering individuals to build strong defenses against them.
Minister Tang also highlighted the pivotal role played by Taiwan's civic collaboration platform, "Cofacts". This platform analyzes and evaluates contentious information, assisting the public in making informed judgments about content authenticity with the support of an AI real-time clarification system deployed by the g0v community.
Furthermore, Minister Tang emphasized the commitment of the Ministry of Digital Affairs to promote trustworthy AI and digital trust environments through collaboration between the public and private sectors. Initiatives include establishing the Artificial Intelligence Evaluation Center (AIEC), issuing AI evaluation guidelines, evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs), and engaging in democratic deliberation processes to explore the societal impact of generative AI development and effective measures to uphold information integrity at individual, community, and national levels.
Minister Tang highlighted the Ministry's organization of two "AI Future Democratization" deliberative workshops last year (2023) to align AI development with societal needs. In March of this year, the Ministry collaborated with National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University to conduct an online citizen deliberation conference on "Using AI to Promote Information Integrity." Over 400 Taiwanese citizens participated through stratified random sampling, achieving consensus on enhancing AI regulatory mechanisms and strengthening the identification and evaluation mechanisms of AI-generated content on major platforms, which were subsequently adopted as Articles 30 to 32 of the draft "Prevention of Fraudulent Crime Act."
The Copenhagen Democracy Summit is organized by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, founded by former Danish Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 2017. The summit aims to strengthen the connection among democratic countries worldwide and promote the values of freedom and democratization.
This year's Copenhagen Democracy Summit featured prerecorded speeches by President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan. Other attendees included Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, President of the European Parliament Charles Michel, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Microsoft's Vice President of European Government Affairs Nanna-Louise Linde, as well as political figures, activists, think tanks, and tech leaders from Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Hong Kong, Tanzania, India, and other countries.
