The President of the Assembly of the Republic said this Friday that MPs have never worked so hard before in a speech in which he also warned of the challenges artificial intelligence poses to the ethical standards inherent in democracies.
These positions were presented by Augusto Santos Silva at the opening of an international conference on “Digital Literacy: Why it Matters for a Representative Democracy”, an initiative of the Assembly of the Republic, which will run until Saturday.
In his speech, the former Minister of State and Foreign Minister said that the parliamentary institution now offers an unprecedented level of transparency, surpassing most public bodies, including the government.
This fact, in his opinion, is “particularly relevant in countering the false but widespread populist argument about the uselessness of parliaments: in fact, deputies have never worked so hard.”
“This is what can be seen from the significant increase in the number of bills considered, laws approved, resolutions passed, votes approved, debates held, as well as time spent in plenary meetings and commissions,” the President of the Republic Assembly explained.
However, Augusto Santos Silva subsequently warned that, in parallel with the increase in transparency, it was also confirmed that the television broadcast of the committee meetings created “an incentive for political groups to engage in more conflictual intervention, thereby limiting the potential for mutual understanding and consensus.”
“Drama tends to take precedence over rational debate and reflection. Thus, we must think about how we can balance in this new digital society the two relationships we need: responsibility and a sense of commitment,” he urged.
In his speech, the President of the Assembly of the Republic considered that parliaments should encourage civic participation, while noting, however, that this participation “cannot be a tool of those who are already integrated into the political system, nor can the privilege of the most educated, wealthy or digitally familiar technologies.”
Information and communication technologies (ICTs), stressed the former socialist minister, “are a formidable means of recording, distributing and receiving information, and social networks and digital platforms are multiplying the opportunities to speak out and communicate almost to infinity.”
“They can be used to empower people, modernize institutions, and promote democratic participation and control, but they can also be misused to manipulate public opinion, spread disinformation, spread prejudice, and violate the general principles of liberal democracies. This applies to artificial intelligence,” he said. warned.
For the President of the Assembly of the Republic, artificial intelligence even poses a “significant challenge to democracy,” requiring the ability to track its rapid development and assess the need for regulation.
“Human dignity, public debate, the common good, the distinction between logos and pathos, the distinction between truth and falsehood, and ethical standards are at the heart of democracy. We are at risk,” he stressed.
In this context, from the point of view of the Deputy PS and the former Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, it is important to understand that the digital transition cannot be viewed only as a huge opportunity.
“The digital transition is also a process that needs to be questioned in terms of democratic values and principles,” he added.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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