2025-03-27 BW Column: Harnessing AI to Foster Social Unity

Harnessing AI to Foster Social Unity

The Russia-Ukraine war has persisted for over three years, casting a shadow of ongoing turbulence over the international landscape. In Taiwan alone this year, undersea cables have been severed six times, while the frequency of incursions by PRC military aircraft continues to escalate.

Beyond geopolitical conflicts, natural disasters further compound global instability. Earlier this year, wildfires ravaged California for nearly a month, forcing over 200,000 residents to evacuate their homes.

When calamities—whether natural or man-made—strike, governments are often stretched thin, simultaneously managing disaster relief and navigating the blame games between groups divided by political ideologies and values. This not only hampers efforts to mitigate the impact of crises but also deepens societal fragmentation.

Once social trust erodes, external forces find it easier to exploit vulnerabilities during major disasters, sowing further discord.

How, then, can Taiwan proactively build social resilience?

First, we must recognize that modern societies have shifted from vertical to horizontal trust. In the past, people readily accepted authoritative information from governments, academia, or select news outlets. Over the past decade, however, this dynamic has changed. Citizens are less inclined to trust top-down authority and instead seek horizontally validated opinions—such as highly upvoted comments beneath articles—through peer-to-peer exchange.

Strengthening horizontal trust among societal members is thus a critical foundation for resilience. Take the example of California: facing the wildfire crisis, its government drew inspiration from Taiwan’s digital democracy initiatives and launched the “Engaged California” platform. This space allows residents to discuss disaster response, relief efforts, and future prevention strategies.

With a flood of proposals and evolving discussions, the platform employs AI to summarize content, compare perspectives, and identify consensus across diverse groups, prioritizing actionable steps with feedback to the participants. This approach enables the government to focus on widely supported measures, avoiding decisions swayed by isolated loud voices, further motivating civic engagement.

Yet, the rise of generative AI introduces challenges. Malicious actors can easily fabricate countless lifelike fake accounts online, undermining the quality of public discourse. To counter this, Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs, inspired by California’s public code programs, introduced the “Digital Credential Wallet.” Aligned with international decentralized identity standards, this tool effectively eliminates fake accounts without transmitting data back to issuers—be it government or corporations—thus avoiding unnecessary surveillance.

For citizens, this offers tangible convenience and privacy. In the future, individuals can store personal and membership data on their phones, akin to a digital equivalent of physical cards. They can selectively disclose information—for example, when picking up packages at convenience stores, only a "name" needs to be shown rather than all personal data—and the system works even offline.

As Taiwan builds resilience, AI can provide institutional and technological support. However, the process hinges on individuals actively engaging in their families and friend groups, fostering habits of respectful dialogue despite differences. A society rooted in robust horizontal trust can better withstand information warfare and collectively confront the challenges posed by disasters, both natural and human-induced.