I want to warn the world about an unprecedented danger that’s threatening the very survival of open societies.
The rapidly improving instruments of control that machine learning and artificial intelligence can produce are giving repressive regimes an inherent advantage. For them, the improving instruments of control are a help; for open societies they constitute a mortal danger.
I’ll focus on China, where President Xi Jinping wants a one-party state to reign supreme. Xi is trying to consolidate all the available information about a person into a centralized database to create a “social credit system.” Based on these data, people will be evaluated by algorithms that will determine whether they pose a threat to the one-party state. People will then be treated accordingly.
The social credit system is not yet fully operational, but it’s clear where it’s heading. It will subordinate the fate of the individual to the interests of the one-party state in unprecedented ways.
I find the social credit system frightening and abhorrent. Unfortunately, some Chinese find it rather attractive, because it provides information and services that are not currently available, and can also protect law-abiding citizens against enemies of the state.
China is not the only authoritarian regime in the world, but it is undoubtedly the wealthiest, strongest, and most developed in machine learning and artificial intelligence. This makes Xi the most dangerous opponent of those who believe in the concept of open society. But Xi is not alone. Authoritarian regimes are proliferating all over the world, and if they succeed, they will become totalitarian.
As the founder of the Open Society Foundations, I have devoted my life to fighting totalizing, extremist ideologies, which falsely claim that the ends justify the means. I believe that the desire of people for freedom cannot be repressed forever. But I recognize that open societies are profoundly endangered at present.
I use “open society” as shorthand for a society in which the rule of law prevails over rule by a single individual, and where the role of the state is to protect human rights and individual freedom. In my view, an open society should pay special attention to those who suffer from discrimination or social exclusion and those who cannot defend themselves.
How can open societies be protected if these new technologies give authoritarian regimes a built-in advantage? That’s the question that preoccupies me. It should also preoccupy all those who prefer to live in an open society.
IN SEARCH OF OPEN SOCIETY
My deep concern for this issue arises from my personal history. I was born in Hungary in 1930, and I am Jewish. I was 13 years old when the Germans occupied Hungary and started deporting Jews to extermination camps. I was very fortunate because my father understood the nature of the Nazi regime and arranged false identity papers and hiding places for all members of his family, and for a number of other Jews as well. Most of us survived.