Conditions supporting information integrity being challenged – WEF

Detailed summary

The report provides case studies and discusses how stakeholders — from governments and civil society to tech companies and creators of content — can respond to the changing times and keep the information ecosystem whole

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council on Information Integrity released a report on Wednesday, November 11, outlining the challenges of maintaining an environment of reliable information in an age of artificial intelligence and disinformation proliferation, and possible responses that can help keep information integrity alive.

The report, titled, “The Future of Information Integrity: Charting a Global Path in a Fragmented World,” examines information integrity as a systemic challenge across four interconnected layers: creation, consumption, design and distribution, and ecosystem incentives.

Maria Ressa, Rappler CEO and co-chair of the Council, said in the report that information integrity is “the foundation of democracy and thriving societies.”

“A deficit in reliable information directly paralyzes our collective capacity to solve global challenges, from climate change to pandemics. Yet the conditions that have traditionally supported information integrity are being transformed and challenged at a scale and speed with few precedents,” Ressa said.

The report gives case studies and provides opportunities for various sectors— from governments and civil society to tech companies and creators of content — to learn and respond to the changing times, taking on complementary roles to keep the information ecosystem whole.

For the creation layer, the report notes how creators of different stripes approach information integrity differently and can be influenced by factors like monetization strategies and attention.The report noted how there were gaps in sourcing in editorial verification among both non-traditional creators and established newsrooms.

While creator-led media isn’t necessarily unreliable, the report noted how “systems where editorial duties, training and accountability are unevenly distributed can reach large audiences.”

Generative and synthetic media add to the problem: By generating plausible information and packaging it as real, it can even make…

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Opening of the article, excerpted from Rappler. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.