Ukraine becomes conscience of world, info sphere becomes full-fledged battlefield – Nobel laureate

Ukraine has become an example of global resistance to authoritarianism and the "conscience of the world," while the key battle of modern times is the struggle for truth and information integrity, Filipino journalist and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa said.

Speaking at the 18th annual Kyiv Security Forum, titled "Darkness or Dawn: Is There Light Ahead?" she said that events in Ukraine have a global dimension and that Russia's war against Ukraine is part of a broader confrontation encompassing both the physical and information spaces.

Ressa said the world is experiencing a decline of democracy and that an "unnatural alliance" is now emerging between traditional authoritarian regimes, kleptocrats and technology oligarchs who control the information space. She also stressed that the information sphere has become a full-fledged battlefield and warned that the situation could worsen with the development of new technologies, including chatbots that amplify manipulation.

At the same time, Ressa said Ukraine itself is demonstrating how technology can be used to defend democracy, and highlighted the role of Ukrainian engineers, programmers, journalists and volunteers who use drones, open data and digital tools to counter aggression. She also singled out the work of Ukrainian journalists who, in her words, are "reinventing journalism under shelling" by creating media that are "both patriotic and independent."

She also stressed that the world is only beginning to develop mechanisms to respond to new challenges, including in the field of artificial intelligence, but that this process has become possible to a significant extent thanks to Ukraine's experience.

Kyiv Security Forum is an annual international event launched in 2007 on the initiative of Arseniy Yatsenyuk's Open Ukraine Foundation. This year it is being held on April 23-24.