Lying in the age of artificial intelligence: A call to moral and legal responsibility

Abstract

In Western culture, perceptions and emotions have often prevailed over truth and reality, trivializing the act of lying and undermining trust between individuals and institutions. Today, freedom of expression and the right of citizens to freely form their own opinions—based on facts and not falsehoods—are sometimes threatened by the impunity with which lying is allowed in public debate, even in societies that consider themselves democratic. Lying, especially when practiced by public representatives, can cause serious social harm, and we believe that globalization calls for a higher common standard of respect for the truth. Along with the reflections of historical authors on the subject, in this essay we analyze two cases as examples: the false statistics used to achieve the decriminalization of abortion in democratic countries, and the lies of the Chinese authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic in one of today’s leading totalitarian states. We believe that these behaviors should not go unpunished, and therefore we propose to insert new criminal offenses in national and international criminal law, especially for those in public office and media professionals. Our objective is to preserve and promote truthfulness in our societies in order to foster trust and peaceful coexistence among free and equal people.

Keywords:

• Truth
• lies
• information ethics
• public interest
• reparation
• criminal liability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 These texts are borrowed from the lecture given by Dr. Nathanson at the Colegio de Médicos de Madrid, on November 15, 1982. The translation is our own.

2 ‘The EU Commission outlined plans to ban certain business practices like dominant digital companies displaying or ranking their own products ahead of those of rivals, known as self-preferencing. Apple, for instance, could see restrictions on how it promotes its new suite of digital services, while Google may be limited in placing its own products at the top of people’s search results.’ See ‘Europe rewrites rulebook for digital age’ in Politico, December 15, 2020. https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-digital-markets-act-services-act-tech-competition-rules-margrethe-vestager-thierry-breton/.

3 For criminal prosecution purposes, a ‘document’ is considered to be any material or support that expresses or incorporates data, facts or narratives which are legally relevant. As indelible support could be any device, computer or telematic support. Documentary evidence of a multitude of falsehoods can be found in all cell phones, newspapers, computers, or any electronic device or computer.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Santiago Leyra-Curiá

Santiago Leyra-Curiá was born in Madrid in 1980 and holds a PhD in State Ecclesiastical Law from the Complutense University of Madrid, where he initially obtained his law degree. He is a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation of Spain. Founder with others of the citizen platform Principios. He is the author of several specialized books including Movimientos sociales de los derechos civiles (London: EAE, 2012), Participación política y derecho a la objeción de conciencia al aborto (Pamplona: Aranzadi, 2022), Pluralismo y libertad de información, expresión y pensamiento (Pamplona: Aranzadi, 2022) and El populismo en España (Madrid: Dykinson, 2023). He also collaborates with various legal journals and Spanish media. At Villanueva University, his teaching is linked to the area of Law, with the subject of Historical Foundations of the Legal System, and Communication, with the course of Applied Law in Journalism as well as the subjects Cultural Context of Behavior and Culture and Civilizations, both part of the Core Curriculum program of the university, of which he is the coordinator.

Jordi Pujol Soler

Jordi Pujol Soler, PhD, is a Catholic priest and Associate Professor of Media Ethics and Communication Law at the School of Church Communications in the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome. He is originally from Barcelona (1975) and has a master’s degree in Law (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain) as well as one in Moral Theology (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross). He has been Visiting Research Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture (University of Notre Dame, Indiana), and visiting scholar at the Columbia Journalism School (New York) as well as at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard (Cambridge).

His research is particularly focused on three areas:

• Transparency and Church communications. The right to information within the Church. Putting law and communication to work together, particularly in areas such as abuse and governance. Latest book: Trasparenza e Segreto nella Chiesa Cattolica (Venezia: Marcianum Press, 2022).

• Privacy, digital identity and data protection, particularly the impact of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Church governance. Latest book: Chiesa e protezione dei dati personali (Roma: Edizioni Santa Croce, 2019).

• Ethical dilemmas related to freedom of expression in Europe and the United States, and the challenges of exercising freedom of expression online. Recenly published: The Collapse of Freedom of Expression: Reconstructing the Foundations of Modern Liberty (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2023).