Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and co-chair of the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, has called for urgent legislative action to regulate AI. She argues that without immediate intervention, humanity risks losing its autonomy to autonomous systems that are increasingly capable of making decisions on behalf of individuals.
Ressa identifies three waves of technological impact: the initial capture of human attention by social media, the psychological manipulation through chatbots, and the current emergence of multi-agent AI systems. She emphasizes that AI regulation is a matter of public safety rather than a debate over free speech, rejecting claims that oversight would hinder national competitiveness.
Addressing concerns that regulation might cause the US to fall behind China, Ressa noted that China already implements stricter safety measures for its domestic users, such as age restrictions on platforms like TikTok. She advocates for the creation of digital infrastructure managed by public interest groups, independent of large technology corporations.
As a practical step, Ressa’s media organization, Rappler, launched the Rappler Communities app in 2023. Built on the open-source, decentralized Matrix protocol, the platform aims to provide a secure space for communication. Rappler is currently working to expand this model to other news organizations across Southeast Asia to foster democratic discourse.
