Cyber Week in Review: March 22, 2024

United Nations unanimously passes the world’s first Artificial Intelligence Resolution

On March 21, The United Nations unanimously passed the first global artificial intelligence resolution. The resolution—which took more than three months of negotiations and was led by the United States—was cosponsored by 121 nations and had the full support of all 193 member nations. The resolution calls on member states to develop responsible AI systems to uphold human rights and comply with international law. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, stated that the resolution "calls on those creating this technology to be responsible for developing and launching new capabilities and to root out bias and discrimination in AI systems." The resolution follows the European Parliament's recent passage of the Artificial Intelligence Act, which also aims to promote human rights through responsible technology development. The resolution is nonbinding and has no enforcement mechanisms, and Ambassador Greenfield stated that the United Nations would not present the resolution to the Security Council.

Department of Justice and Fifteen Other Attorneys General Sue Apple over Antitrust claims

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and fifteen other state and district attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the $2.75 trillion public company has created a monopoly in the smartphone market, violating federal antitrust law and Section 2 of the Sherman Act—a provision of U.S. antitrust law that prohibits monopolization or the attempt to monopolize. The eighty-eight-page lawsuit alleges that Apple has been anticompetitive toward other mobile cloud streaming services, excluded cross-platform messaging apps, diminished the functionality of third-party smartwatches, and limited third-party digital wallets. Attorney General Merrick Garland remarked that Apple has a strategy to maintain its 65 percent share of the entire U.S. smartphone market and that “Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies break the law.” The lawsuit adds to broader attempts to crack down on large companies for violating antitrust laws, as the Department of Justice recently sued Google for potential monopolization. In response to the allegations, Apple stated, "This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets.” 

Google researchers demonstrate new artificial intelligence system called VLOGGER

Six Google researchers developed a new artificial intelligence system called VLOGGER that can convert still images into realistic videos, including by adding hand gestures and making it appear someone is speaking. The researchers trained the system from a dataset called MENTOR, which they claim is a diverse set of skin tones and body poses with over 800,000 identities. The researchers state that VLOGGER is the “first approach to generate talking and moving humans given speech inputs” and believe that the system will augment our understanding of synthesizing human communication systems. Additionally, the researchers believe that “[VLOGGER] would not only ease creative processes, but also enable entirely new use cases, such as enhanced online communication, education, or personalized virtual assistants…” Though the paper highlights some of the innovative prospects of the technology, critics of the system have raised concerns about its usage to develop deepfakes and synthetic media. It is unclear if Google will officially release the system or whether it will be publicly available. The announcement comes as fears grow regarding the use of AI to commit fraud, such as reports earlier this year that scammers had used to convince a Hong Kong-based employee of a multinational firm to wire the scammers over $25 million from a company account. 

Supreme Court hears Oral Arguments in Murthy v. Missouri

On March 18, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri, a key case among at least four first amendment cases being heard this term. The case first originated on May 5, 2022, when the State of Missouri and Louisiana filed a complaint with the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana against the White House, federal officials, and federal agencies, claiming that content regarding COVID-19 vaccines and election fraud in 2020 was “censored” by social media platforms at the demand of the government. Murthy takes on the key question of “jawboning”—using governmental power to influence private action—and may help clarify when governmental persuasion would cross the line into coercion, and consequently violate the first amendment. During the oral arguments, both liberal and conservative justices on the Supreme Court questioned the validity of the States’ claims, given the States’ continued reliance on misrepresentations of the evidentiary record. The deputy Solicitor General argued in part that engagement with social media platforms reflected the executive branch’s right to exercise persuasive authority as a key component of its role, noting that only technology companies themselves could make decisions on what information to leave up, take down, or otherwise address on their respective social media platforms. As Murthy has proceeded through the courts, the Biden administration has dramatically cut back its engagement with social media platforms, although that stance may now be softening in light of the oral arguments. Notably, Murthy is one component of a broader campaign of lawsuits and congressional investigations that have produced a chilling effect on information research in a key electoral year domestically and globally. The Court is expected to issue a decision on the case in June.

Blinken Sets Out Proactive Vision for Building Resilience to Information Manipulation

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gave a speech on March 18 at the Summit for Democracy in Seoul, in which he emphasized that “misleading information” is not an unavoidable byproduct of free expression, but rather, a challenge that fundamentally undermines the human right to expression under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. “Building a more resilient information environment is, for us, a vital national security interest. It’s also an urgent priority for our diplomacy,” Blinken stated. In the speech, which focused not only on the importance of information to democracy but also to addressing key global priorities such as improving public health, Blinken a “Democratic Roadmap” that provides recommendations for governments, private sector companies, journalists, and civil society to navigate the growing concerns of misinformation and to support election integrity. The roadmap identifies four steps for these groups to take: highlighting the importance of digital information manipulation; recognizing how information integrity can be consistent with freedom of expression; reinforcing civic resilience in digital platforms; and prioritizing efforts to address risks posed by generative AI. The roadmap also underscores the opportunities for multistakeholder collaboration to become resilient to the changing digital and information landscape. In releasing the roadmap, the United States is co-chairing the OECD’s Misinformation and Disinformation Hub, joining over thirty countries to endorse the Global Declaration on Information Integrity Online, and mobilizing collective action through the Media Freedom Coalition.

Cecilia Marrinan is the intern for the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program.