The New Monetary Order

Paul Samson and Angelo Federico Arcelli summarize the key points from the tenth Financial Regulatory Outlook Conference, co-hosted by CIGI and the Oliver Wyman Forum in Rome last fall to explore questions of monetary policy and the role of central banks in a world of rapid technological change and evolving geopolitics.

Following the introductory session and keynote address, panellists provided specific and concrete discussions on how regulators, financial institutions, corporates and governments could navigate these challenging times, providing significant context and a holistic view on the potential evolution of the monetary order.

In this piece co-published with The Walrus, Kyle Hiebert makes the case that as generative AI becomes more sophisticated and ubiquitous, a new tsunami of fake content will inundate the internet, produced by tools capable of creating something arguably worse: apathy. Looking ahead, “generative AI risks hardening digitally siloed forms of existence,” as the potential of artificial intelligence for individual customization subtly reshapes users’ approaches to other humans.

“Amid such a cacophony of computer-generated noise, trickery and displacement of human social bonds, everyday citizens will struggle to trust anything they can see or hear” — an outcome authoritarians “are no doubt already banking on.”

The Digital Policy Hub at CIGI is a collaborative space for emerging scholars and innovative thinkers from the social, natural and applied sciences. Here are the latest working papers from Hub fellows:

Daria Bielik: “Language Power-Up: Are LLMs a Fair Play for International Students?”

Matthew da Mota: “Toward an AI Policy Framework for Research Institutions”

Harnoorvir (Harnoor) Singh Josan: “AI and Deepfake Voice Cloning: Innovation, Copyright and Artists’ Rights”

Laila Mourad: “Gig Economies Living Lab: Bridging Global Divides in Research”

Follow the links on the Hub webpage to find out more about the Hub scholars and their work!

In 2023, the government of Canada declared intimate partner violence and gender-based violence to be an epidemic. One often-underappreciated element is how everyday digital tools — from cellphones and GPS devices to Internet of Things products such as smart locks and smart speakers — are being used as “technologies of torment” to intimidate, stalk, harass or control current or former intimate partners.

Natasha Tusikov writes that although voluntary, industry-led initiatives are likely to be ineffective in addressing this emergency, an e-safety commissioner could potentially work with technology companies to develop industry standards and even mandatory requirements to address tech abuse.

“The January 17 announcement by publishing house Condé Nast that it was folding its music publication website, Pitchfork, into men’s magazine GQ and firing much of its staff was a shocking blow to the United States’ (and thus much of the world’s) music industry…and a chilling portent in a media landscape already littered with previously essential but rapidly declining media outlets.”

Blayne Haggart says the push to commodify culture and knowledge that ruined Pitchfork “is not just a capitalism-driven blight; it’s encoded in the very way we think about the internet itself.”