FLASH
Shkruar nga Frank H. McCourt Jr
When the World Wide Web was created, the public was promised an era of democratic participation, a digital marketplace for the new millennium. The reality has proven far more problematic: predatory algorithms are undermining civil society, distorting the truth, and fueling divisions among citizens...
At the height of the Cold War, a man named Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin gathered the West’s leading security experts in Munich. As a World War II resistance fighter and a member of the Stauffenberg circle that had tried to overthrow Hitler, he had a clear goal: to prevent a Third World War. He devoted the rest of his life to fostering open dialogue, sharing defense strategies, and reducing tensions.
Tomorrow, as world leaders gather again for the annual Munich Security Conference, the threats they face are no less profound than those of some 60 years ago, although many of them are much less visible.
Yes, wars are being fought on several continents, alliances are being tested, and tensions are escalating across borders and oceans. However, the author of this opinion argues that, if von Kleist-Schmenzin were alive today, he would recognize that the most consequential clash of our time may not take place on traditional battlefields at all. It is taking place in the digital space, where control over personal data, over our digital identity, constitutes the central source of power and influence in the modern world.
When the World Wide Web was created, the public was promised an era of democratic participation, a digital marketplace for the new millennium. According to the author, the reality has proven far more problematic: predatory algorithms are undermining civil society, distorting the truth, and fueling divisions among citizens, while a small number of technology companies know more about their users than any intelligence agency in the past.
He points out that the impact of the internet is felt at the national level, where polarization and disinformation are weakening social cohesion, influencing elections and shaking up the international order. The impact is also felt in family life, where automated worlds and divisive voices are affecting the mental and social health of children.
According to the author, this situation is not a coincidence, but the result of a model built by big tech companies. He argues that from the moment Facebook introduced the “like” button, the internet began to transform from an open source of knowledge into a system optimized for anger, addiction, and profit, which rewards division and neglects truth.
The business model, he argues, is straightforward: algorithms are designed to capture and exploit users' attention, not to inform or connect them. From a financial perspective, this model has proven to be extremely profitable. Big tech companies have amassed trillions of dollars in record time, accumulating what the author calls the most valuable resource in human history, personal data. He argues that this data is collected through large-scale tracking mechanisms.
With the rise of artificial intelligence, the author says, the same companies are presenting a new narrative: a new chapter for the internet, far more powerful and seemingly more profitable. Yet he argues that the underlying logic remains the same. New systems continue to be designed to extract more data, exert more control, and deepen manipulation, this time on an even larger scale.
He warns in particular about what he calls the “agentic web,” where autonomous artificial intelligence systems are no longer limited to interpreting information, but are given the power to act on it, often with minimal oversight and insufficient security mechanisms. An example is OpenClaw, an open-source autonomous assistant, which illustrates the shift from information consumption to delegating actions to digital agents. According to the author, individuals are giving these systems broad authorizations to interact with other systems in real time, increasing the risk of concrete damage and coordinated manipulation.
He adds that those who raise concerns about this concentration of power and the security risks are often labeled as anti-progress or as obstacles in the technological race with China. But the author makes it clear that, in his opinion, democracies cannot compete by adopting authoritarian models of algorithms, centralized power, and mass surveillance.
To change this reality, he proposes building alternative systems that respect individual rights, restore citizens' ownership and control over their personal data, and comply with democratic principles. The technologies that shape everyday life, he argues, should be designed to protect citizens, not expose them to risks.
The author points out that such technology is already being developed. According to him, technologists, universities, companies and governments around the world are working to create a new paradigm for artificial intelligence: open-source, transparent systems, and overseen by the public sector and civil society. His organization, Project Liberty, is presented as part of this effort, based on the belief that artificial intelligence can and should be built in harmony with fundamental democratic values.
In this vision, the new AI architecture aims for human development, gives individuals a voice in how platforms operate, real choices over data use, and participation in the economic value created on the internet. This architecture, according to the author, must be accompanied by policies and governance mechanisms that protect democracy, freedom, and public trust.
In conclusion, he calls on world leaders, as they gather in Munich, to build a stronger foundation for the development of artificial intelligence, integrating democratic values and protecting future generations in what he describes as the new front in the battle for democracy. / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Politico"
Njeriut te thjeshte i numurohen kafshatat e ushqimit e deri te qindarka e fundit, permes verifikimit te kartave. Per njerezine qe mban radhen ne markete si pulat ne pulari u dihet sa karrota, qepe e breke blene ndersa oligarkeve e milionereve nuk u dihen prona, pallate, hotele, biznese, kompani, para ne bursa e lista nuk mbaron. Jo vetem ne Shqiperi por ne te gjithe boten ky eshte problem shume shqetesues. Kesaj i thone shih rrushi rrushin e piqet fiku. Te gjithe vjedhin, mashtrojne e perlajne ku te mundin e sa te mundin. Ku do i dale fundi!? Nje Zot e di.