- Maria Ressa warns AI could end human independent choice without swift regulation
- She urges public campaigns to pressure politicians for stronger AI laws
- Ressa highlights AI's phases from social media impact to agentic AI systems
Artificial intelligence could ultimately strip humanity of its ability to make independent choices unless governments move quickly to regulate the technology, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa has warned.
Ressa, the Filipino-American journalist who jointly won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, said citizens must campaign for stronger AI regulation and put pressure on politicians to introduce legislation.
“It is not a freedom of speech issue to ask for regulation. It's a public safety issue,” Ressa said in an interview during a visit to Oslo, where she was attending a conference on threats to democracy.
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Reuters reported that Ressa, co-founder and CEO of news outlet Rappler, said AI has already gone through several stages of influence, beginning with social media's ability to capture attention, polarise societies and isolate users.
She described the second phase as AI “hacking our biology” through intimacy-driven chatbots. The latest phase, she said, involves agentic and multi-agentic AI systems that can act on behalf of people, raising concerns about human agency.
Ressa, who also serves as co-chair of a United Nations international scientific panel on AI, rejected arguments that tighter regulation in Western countries could allow China to gain an advantage in the global AI race.
She said China has placed more safeguards around some technologies, pointing to age restrictions on TikTok's Chinese version.
Ressa said governments should go beyond age restrictions on social media and address the addictive design features built into technology platforms.
“We know this is harmful, so you should remove the addictive features, not just for teenagers, but for all of us,” she said.
She also backed moves by the European Union and other countries, including Australia, to restrict children's access to social media, but said such measures do not address the broader risks faced by adults.
According to Ressa, technology companies should first be held accountable for the damage caused by their platforms.
She welcomed US lawsuits that have resulted in Meta Platforms facing settlements of up to $18 billion over the next decade and restrictions on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram.
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Ressa also called for the creation of communication platforms operated in the public interest rather than controlled by major technology companies.
Her warning comes amid growing debate over the pace of AI development and the need for safeguards as increasingly capable systems are deployed across society.
Ressa said the window to act is narrowing, warning that AI could become “beyond our control” if governments and citizens fail to intervene now.
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