FREEDOM ON THE NET 2023 The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence Freedom on the Net 2023: The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence By Allie Funk, Adrian Shahbaz, and Kian Vesteinsson A dvances in artificial intelligence (AI) are amplifying a crisis for human rights online. While AI technology offers exciting and beneficial uses for science, education, and society at large, its uptake has also increased the scale, speed, and efficiency of digital repression. Automated systems have enabled governments to conduct more precise and subtle forms of online censorship. Purveyors of disinformation are employing AI-generated images, audio, and text, making the truth easier to distort and harder to discern. Sophisticated surveillance systems rapidly trawl social media for signs of dissent, and massive datasets are paired with facial scans to identify and track prodemocracy protesters. These innovations are reshaping an internet that was already under serious threat. Global internet freedom declined for the 13th consecutive year in 2023. Of the 70 countries covered by Freedom on the Net, conditions for human rights online deteriorated in 29, while only 20 countries registered overall gains. For the ninth consecutive year, China was found to have the worst conditions for internet freedom, though Myanmar came close to surpassing it. The year’s largest decline occurred in Iran, followed first by the Philippines and then by Belarus, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. In more than three-fourths of the countries covered by the project, people faced arrest for simply expressing themselves online. And governments in a record 41 countries resorted to censoring political, social, or religious content. Many observers have debated the existential risks posed by future AI advances, but these should not be allowed to overshadow the ways in which the cutting-edge technology is undermining internet freedom today. Democratic policymakers should establish a positive regulatory vision for the design and deployment of AI tools that is grounded in human rights standards, transparency, and accountability. Civil society experts, the drivers of so much progress for 2 @freedomonthenet human rights in the digital age, should be given a leading role in policy development and the resources they need to keep watch over these systems. AI carries a significant potential for harm, but it can also be made to play a protective role if the democratic community learns the right lessons from the past decade of internet regulation. Major declines As the novelty of AI chatbots captured much of the public’s attention, people around the world struggled against a surge of crude digital repression. Nowhere was this clearer than in Iran, which earned the largest score decline of this year’s GLOBAL INTERNET POPULATION BY 2023 FOTN STATUS Freedom on the Net assesses 88 percent of the world’s internet user population. NOT ASSESSED 12% NOT FREE 36% FREE 17% PARTLY FREE 35% #FreedomOnTheNet