Xanana Gusmão warns AI poses risks to national sovereignty

Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão has warned that Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses significant risks to national sovereignty. Speaking at the Science for Development Summit in Dili, Gusmão highlighted how AI can facilitate more convincing scams, fraud, and political disinformation campaigns by creating realistic but fabricated voices, images, and videos.

Gusmão expressed concern that the ability to manufacture falsehoods could lead to a broader societal crisis where citizens begin to doubt even truthful information. He also raised questions regarding the power of technology companies, noting the risk of corporations becoming wealthier than nations and controlling essential technologies used by governments and communities.

The Prime Minister criticized the way AI companies collect human knowledge built over centuries and resell it through monthly subscriptions, describing it as the appropriation and commercialization of collective knowledge. He concluded that Timor-Leste must strengthen its scientific and technical education to ensure the country possesses the skills necessary to navigate these technological shifts for its own development.