AI threatens human agency unless regulated now, warns Nobel laureate Ressa

OSLO — Artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to human agency and must be constrained through immediate legislation, according to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.

Speaking in Oslo, Ressa argued that AI systems have successfully commandeered public attention by leveraging social media platforms and manipulating fundamental human needs for connection and intimacy. Without regulatory intervention, she cautioned, these technologies will progressively strip away individual autonomy and decision-making capacity.

The prominent journalist and human rights advocate stressed that the window for action is narrowing. She emphasized that policymakers must act decisively now to establish legal guardrails around AI development and deployment, rather than waiting for more evidence of harm to accumulate.

Ressa's intervention adds to growing international concerns about artificial intelligence's societal impact, particularly regarding mental health, information integrity, and democratic processes. Her call for regulation reflects broader efforts among civil society leaders and technologists to establish binding rules governing AI use before the technology becomes further entrenched in critical social systems.