Cyber Week in Review: September 27, 2024

X agrees to comply with Brazilian laws and pay fines to reestablish service in country

The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, abruptly announced this week that it would comply with a Brazilian court order by paying down a series of fines and appointing a representative in the country. In August, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been leading an investigation into the spread of misinformation on social media in Brazil, used Supreme Court authority to order local internet service providers to block access to X, effectively banning the platform in Brazil. Since then, Musk has attempted a series of workarounds to maintain X’s presence in Brazil, promoting virtual private networks (VPNs) which could be used to access X from Brazil, using his ownership of satellite internet provider Starlink to reestablish X in the country, and using technical circumvention methods to get around the controls imposed by Brazil’s telecommunications regulator. While millions of X users live in Brazil, only around 2 percent of the company’s annual sales originate from Brazil. None of the methods were effective at restoring local access to X.  Musk has frequently accused Brazil of violating free speech as a result of the demands that content be taken down, but X’s release this week of its first  transparency report since Musk bought the platform in 2022, shows that the platform is more likely to remove content requested by governments than it was under its previous ownership.

United States announces restrictions on Chinese and Russian car imports

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a new notice of proposed rule-making (NPRM) that aims to future-proof the supply chain for next-generation automobiles from threats posed by China and Russia. The order will significantly restrict the import or use of Chinese and Russian hardware or software for certain types of systems. The order will apply to two key elements of connected vehicles: vehicle connectivity systems, the hardware and software—such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi—that connect cars to external networks, and automated driving systems (ADS), software that allows cars to navigate autonomously. The order would apply to hardware or software with a “sufficient nexus” to China or Russia and prohibit the sale of vehicles that contain said hardware or software. The NPRM will go into effect in different phases, “with prohibitions on hardware going into effect on January 1, 2029 (or Model Year 2030), while prohibitions on software will take effect for Model Year 2027.” The rule will also require suppliers to provide hardware and software bills of materials, which provide visibility into where parts of different products originated and what suppliers were responsible for given components. The rule will be preceded by a thirty-day comment period and the Biden administration will release an assessment of the economic impact of the rules.

ODNI releases report on election security in 2024

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an election update on foreign influence efforts targeted at the Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns. The update outlines how Russia, China, and Iran are using generative AI to create audio, photos, videos, and text to augment their influence campaigns. While the three countries have all been making use of generative AI, they have differed in how deeply they’ve integrated AI into their campaigns, and the purpose of their AI use. According to ODNI, Russian intelligence agencies have been the most aggressive in their disinformation campaigns, using AI to doctor photos and attribute false statements, with much of the disinformation targeted at Vice President Harris. Intelligence officials specifically cited a video three Russian-backed disinformation groups created last month in which they paid an actress to claim Harris had paralyzed her in a hit-and-run accident when the actress was a child. Iran, on the other hand, hasn’t integrated AI as closely into its campaigns, and has focused on using misinformation to attack the Trump campaign and malign Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. China, meanwhile, has largely not targeted a specific candidate in 2024, seeking instead to shape global views around China and amplify divisive political issues in the United States.

OpenAI announces shift to for-profit status, several executives resign

OpenAI, one of the largest U.S. AI developers and the company behind ChatGPT, announced that it was shifting its core business from a non-profit entity into a for-profit public benefit corporation on Wednesday. The non-profit entity that formerly governed OpenAI will continue to own a minority stake of the company, although its governance role is unclear, and CEO Sam Altman is reportedly receiving a 7 percent share of equity in the new company. The restructuring would have a number of implications beyond the change in the company’s mission, it and would also allow investors to draw a larger share of OpenAI’s profit. Several high-level executives announced their resignations in close proximity to the restructuring announcement, including Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, research head Bob McGrew, and research vice president Barret Zoph. Murati. McGrew, and Zoph had played major roles at OpenAI since its inception, with all three helping drive the release of OpenAI products like ChatGPT, Dall-E, and GPT-4o. Murati had been briefly named interim CEO last year, as OpenAI’s non-profit board made a decision to oust Altman because they found him “manipulative and conniving” and suspected he was at odds with OpenAI’s mission to develop safe AI.

United Nations approves the Global Digital Compact

The UN General Assembly voted to ratify the Pact of the Future, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ attempt to refresh multilateral governance strategies, earlier this week. The Pact contains an important component on digital governance, the Global Digital Compact (GDC), a consensus-based framework designed to “establish a more inclusive global framework,” encourage multistakeholder models, and overcome existing digital and innovation challenges worldwide. Guterres had made the GDC a key plank of the UN’s approach to digital governance, and the document could have significant ramifications for AI development, internet governance, and digital innovation more broadly. Despite this, Russia, Iran, and five other countries voted against the pact, citing concerns around national sovereignty. The compact outlines a set of principles designed to ensure that digital development respects human rights, conserves the environment, and benefits economies globally. The GDC also contains several active policy prescriptions: it advocates for a roadmap for AI governance, calls on countries and companies to create an international fund devoted to allowing developing countries to benefit from AI, and calls for an international scientific panel on AI. The GDC will likely have significant ramifications for digital governance, while offering a lens into the UN’s vision of its role in digital development going forward. Experts have warned that the GDC could restrict some groups from participating in the broader internet governance landscape internet governance mechanisms, if it serves as a vehicle for bringing longstanding multistakeholder forums more firmly under a centralized, multilateral structure within the UN.