ABU DHABI: As AI-generated deepfakes and bots grow more sophisticated, online privacy and identity protection have become urgent global concerns, especially for journalists, influencers and media professionals, whose lives unfold in the digital spotlight.
The growing threats of impersonation, character assassination and coordinated online abuse was at the center of a high-stakes conversation on the second day of the Bridge Summit in Abu Dhabi, where regional and international leaders from the technology and media fields tackled the complex risks surrounding digital safety, security and trust in an AI-powered world.
Adeline Hulin, chief of unit, media and information literacy at UNESCO, highlighted the risks that many people, in particular children and women, are facing online.
Although her work has long centered on promoting safe internet practices, she said that the onus of safeguarding online privacy and security rested primarily with technology companies — the only actors, she argued, capable of keeping pace with the rapid evolution of AI.
“It is going to be really important that instead of people constantly having to adapt to the technology, if the technology itself is more user-centric,” she told the summit.
