Former US president Barack Obama warned of the truth-warping dangers of artificial intelligence and polarised media, and took a swipe at News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, in a wide-ranging discussion before a Sydney audience that also canvassed, China, Russian President Vladimir Putin and economic justice.
The 61-year-old, who served two terms in the Oval Office from 2009 to 2017, said he was the first president to serve entirely in the digital age, making him at that point the most recorded person in human history and the guinea pig for deepfakes and other AI mischief.
Barack Obama gives his perspective on the dangers of the digital age at the Aware Super Theatre in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Tuesday.Credit:James D Morgan/Getty Images for Growth Faculty
“Today you can have me in just about any setting on a video, and certainly on a recording, say anything. And unless you’re [my wife] Michelle, you’re pretty confident it’s me,” Obama said.
“It sounds funny, and it’s a boon for filmmakers and special effects. But we’re already in a place now where verifying what’s true [is difficult] and the ability to manipulate reality is advancing very quickly and in malevolent hands that contributes to all kinds of polarisation.
“To preserve democracies we are going to have to spend a lot more time figuring out how are we educating our kids to sort out the differences between fact, opinion, falsehood, what looks real but isn’t. We’re going to have to train our brains to catch up to these new technologies.”
Obama noted it was always challenging for individuals and society to adapt to significant leaps in communication technology, such as the printing press, radio and film.
Barack Obama waves to onlookers after leaving Bathers’ Pavilion restaurant in Balmoral on Monday.Credit:Michelle Haywood / AAP
“It’s a dangerous period because so much of who we are and how we understand the world is related to the stories we receive, and if we are vulnerable to bad stories we can do horrendous things.”
The 44th president, who is in Australia on a speaking tour, was warm and entertaining in discussion with former foreign minister Julie Bishop at the Aware Super Theatre in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Tuesday night.
While maintaining that 65 to 70 per cent of America “does occupy a reality-based world”, he said media distortion also played a role in polarising the community.
“There’s a guy you may be familiar with, first name Rupert, who was responsible for a lot of this,” he said, referring to Murdoch, the Australian-born media mogul.
Barack Obama is on a speaking tour of Australia and will appear in Melbourne on Wednesday night.Credit:Nine News
“He perfected what is a broader trend … it’s now a Wild West and a splintering of media. In America, it’s Fox News, here I guess it’s Sky. If all you are doing is watching one source of news – and by the way, in America you’re seeing that progressives say ‘Well, we’re going to have our own news and our own perspective’ – you no longer have a joint conversation and a shared story.
“The easiest way to attract attention without having a lot of imagination, thought or interesting things to say, is just to make people angry and resentful and to make them feel as if somebody’s trying to mess with them and take what’s rightfully theirs.”
Addressing the state of global finance following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Obama said banking regulation was still not as effective as it ought to be. He lamented the “winner-take-all economy” in which those with a competitive edge, new idea or breakthrough technology could access unprecedented riches, but teachers, nurses and labourers were increasingly vulnerable to automation and technology.
“It has weakened the ability for the average worker to get a fair share of the overall production, and it has greatly exacerbated inequality to levels we haven’t seen since the 1920s. It’s also exacerbating the gulf between nations. That is a recipe for polarisation and people are getting angry and frustrated and resentful,” he said.
Obama said this contributed to the election of his successor Donald Trump, and other democratic events worldwide such as Brexit or the popularity of right-wing populist Marine Le Pen in France. This underlined the importance of leaders paying attention to inequality and fostering social trust so that people did not feel “screwed over” by economic change and modernity.
“There was a little bit too much arrogance about free markets and free trade, and anybody who’s questioning jobs being moved offshore, they’re backwards looking, and ‘everybody’s going to be a coder some day’,” he said.
“It turns out when people’s lives are disrupted, [and] entire communities or entire industries feel disrupted, you better have some good answers for them, and we haven’t always had those.”
Obama on: China
Obama said China took advantage of the vacuum in the global rules-based order under Trump, and it felt it no longer had to operate under the same constrains as during his own presidency.
“Taiwan is going to be a potential fault line, and I’m hoping that [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] is paying attention to the massive strategic error that Russia just made with respect to Ukraine and that gives him some pause.”
Putin
”I don’t want people to think that, if Putin fails, we’ve won. What he represents is bubbling up everywhere, including in my own country, and we have to watch out for it,” he said.
“If we are not setting the example that validates this new idea of how human societies can organise themselves, then we may be able to blunt what Putin’s trying to do but, on the other hand, you’ll see China gain adherence to the idea that democracy can’t function, and you’ll see developing countries say: ‘I don’t think America looks like it’s operating very well, and Europe seems like a mess.’ ”
Angela Merkel
Obama named the former German chancellor as an example of a relationship he formed during his presidency that has become a lasting friendship. He spoke about their shared values and their first meeting when he was the Democratic nominee for president and held a massive rally in Berlin.
He said Merkel resisted giving too much co-operation on the logistics of the event as she wanted to remain impartial.
“She told me later she was a little suspicious that I was a good speech maker and she was suspicious of flashy rhetoric,” Obama said. “Which is a good thing in a German leader. Charisma doesn’t always work out.”
Sydney
Obama said he and Michelle had a wonderful time in Sydney and praised it as “one of the world’s great cities”. They have been spotted outside the Opera House and Bathers’ Pavilion restaurant at Balmoral.
Obama said he first came to Sydney when he was eight, travelling unaccompanied from Indonesia.
“A Qantas stewardess took very good care of me. Comic books, Coke. That would be Coca-Cola. I had a big crush on her,” he said. “That was my first association with Sydney, and it just keeps getting better every time I come back.”
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