Misinformation and Cyberespionage Top WEF's Global Risks Report 2025 22
The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2025 (PDF) highlights misinformation as the top global risk due to generative AI tools and state-sponsored campaigns undermining democratic systems, while cyberespionage ranks as a persistent threat with inadequate cyber resilience, especially among small organizations. From a report: The manipulation of information through gen AI and state-sponsored campaigns is disrupting democratic systems and undermining public trust in critical institutions. Efforts to combat this risk have a "formidable opponent" in gen AI-created false or misleading content that can be produced and distributed at scale, the report warned. Misinformation campaigns in the form of deepfakes, synthetic voice recordings or fabricated news stories are now a leading mechanism for foreign entities to influence "voter intentions, sow doubt among the general public about what is happening in conflict zones, or tarnish the image of products or services from another country." This is especially acute in India, Germany, Brazil and the United States.
Concern remains especially high following a year of the so-called "super elections," which saw heightened state-sponsored campaigns designed to manipulate public opinion. But while it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish AI-generated fake content from human-generated one, AI technologies, in itself, is low in WEF's risk ranking. In fact, it has declined in the two-year outlook, from 29 in last year's report to 31 this year.
Cyberespionage and warfare continue to be a reason for unease for most organizations, ranked fifth in the global risk landscape. According to the report, one in three CEOs cited cyberespionage and intellectual property theft as their top concerns in 2024. Seventy-one percent of chief risk officers say cyber risk and criminal activity such as money laundering and cybercrime could severely impact their organizations, while 45% of cyber leaders are concerned about disruption of operations and business processes, according to WEF's Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 report. The rising likelihood of threat actor activity and sophisticated technological disruption is listed as immediate concerns among security leaders.
Concern remains especially high following a year of the so-called "super elections," which saw heightened state-sponsored campaigns designed to manipulate public opinion. But while it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish AI-generated fake content from human-generated one, AI technologies, in itself, is low in WEF's risk ranking. In fact, it has declined in the two-year outlook, from 29 in last year's report to 31 this year.
Cyberespionage and warfare continue to be a reason for unease for most organizations, ranked fifth in the global risk landscape. According to the report, one in three CEOs cited cyberespionage and intellectual property theft as their top concerns in 2024. Seventy-one percent of chief risk officers say cyber risk and criminal activity such as money laundering and cybercrime could severely impact their organizations, while 45% of cyber leaders are concerned about disruption of operations and business processes, according to WEF's Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 report. The rising likelihood of threat actor activity and sophisticated technological disruption is listed as immediate concerns among security leaders.
hopelessly late again, these "sages" (Score:5, Insightful)
these were the threats 5 years ago. today the biggest problem is these tools have already destroyed democracy, and the participants in WEF ordered this and paid for it.
Re: (Score:2)
Zdravstvujte, tovarisch major, kakaya u vas pogoda v Lakhte segodnya?
Re: (Score:2)
these were the threats 5 years ago. today the biggest problem is these tools have already destroyed democracy
"Destroyed Democracy" where? Wherever I see this, when I look closer, it's just one faction pissing and moaning that they lost an election to another faction.
If it's only "democracy" when your party wins, then it was never democracy to begin with.
Re: (Score:2)
Hungary, for example.
Idiots the lot of them (Score:3)
War in Ukraine alone is a greater threat than misinformation. Not to speak of all the other troubles of the world.
Re:Idiots the lot of them (Score:4, Insightful)
Russia couldn't even take Kyiv. And Ukraine holds land in Kursk. The campaign did not go well for Russia.
Re: (Score:3)
War in Ukraine alone is a greater threat than misinformation. Not to speak of all the other troubles of the world.
The war in Ukraine is the epicentre of misinformation, the two are intrinsically linked.
Ignore the threat of misinformation and we lose the war in Ukraine, look at what it's already done to the US.
Self-government (Score:1)
Concern remains especially high following a year of the so-called "super elections," which saw heightened state-sponsored campaigns designed to manipulate public opinion.
So are people capable of democratic self-government? These folks clearly don't think so. They are Hamiltonians. They believe they, as the enlightened elite of superior quality, should run things. And anyone who interferes with their efforts to manipulate people is a malign force.
Personally, I am more concerned about the likes of the tech and koch brothers manipulating public opinion than I am "state-sponsored campaigns ". They have real interests that conflict with mine and the consequences of their succes
Calling Dr. Evil :o (Score:2)
People seem gullible to lies repeated. (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)