In the face of a more hostile geopolitical environment and more state involvement in digital governance, long-standing institutions such as an open and harmonised internet or the multistakeholder approach to digital governance are increasingly under pressure. Which issues are particularly important for the internet and digital governance this year and where and how will they be negotiated?

The digital structural change offers great opportunities for Swiss democracy, but also risks. Social media have made an unprecedented democratisation of the public possible, especially in the formation of political opinion. At the same time, there is growing concern that hate speech, disinformation and microtargeting are destroying or manipulating political debates.

How can freedom of information and opinion be guaranteed in the run-up to the 2023 elections, while at the same time addressing the risks of the digital public sphere? What digital policy approaches are there?

The rapid progress of AI is leading to notable achievements such as ChatGPT, the sophisticated language model. This presents citizens and governments worldwide with the dual challenge of harnessing the potential of AI while mitigating its risks. Together with members of the National Council, we will discuss the AI Act of the EU, the AI Convention of the Council of Europe and the role of Switzerland.

With the arrival of text and image generators directly accessible from our personal and professional computers, the question of their impact on the quality of information is becoming increasingly relevant. How can we detect and prevent the spilling of fakes and deepfakes into our information channels? What are the concrete impacts of AI on the quality of information throughout its life cycle, from the work of the journalist to that of the institutions responsible for ensuring access to information and knowledge and their preservation for future generations (libraries or archives)?