THE Governor-General Reverend David Tiva has urged responsible government authourities to work on policies and regulations to govern the use of social media platforms as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the country, which have risen with the advancement of technology globally.
The Governor-General dedicated part of his 2025 New Year’s National Address on the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation to highlight the advancement of technology, particularly social media platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube, which are predominant household vocabs now.
Further to the rising use of these social media platforms, he pointed out that what is known as AI is slowly infiltrating the country.
The Governor-General said whilst AI may have a lot of positive aspects to it, the country must be watchful for its negative aspects.
“As a country, we must also be prepared for this [AI], which has infiltrated our society. Whilst it may have a lot of positive aspects, we must also be watchful for its negative sides.
“According to scripts by some experts, AI is a branch of computer science dedicated to creating computers and programmes that can replicate human thinking.
“Some AI programmes can learn from the past by analysing complex set of data and improve their performance without the help of humans to refine their programming,” the Governor-General said.
The Governor-General said as AI boomed in recent years, it became a common player in both business and everyday life despite some deep ethical questions have emerged about its use.
“People use AI every day to make their life easier. Some of us who are computer-savvy may have seen the headlines about AI – both the good and bad.
“Even teenagers and adults are caught up in the use of technology and AI in learning institutions. Copy and paste has become a practice in the completion of assignments, which is a challenge to learning.”
“There is a lot of debate about the benefits and risks of AI at every level. There are some deep ethical questions about the modern and future use of AI.”
But he said regardless of what one may think of the risk of using AI, no one can dispute the fact that it will be here to stay.
Governor-General Kapu said there are always pros and cons to any technological advancement and urged those responsible to begin work on policies to regulate the daily use of social media platforms and AI.
“Today, even toddlers have smart phones in their hands. We must be careful about what comes on those smart phones for our children.
“The availability and ease of access to information on the internet and the propagation of all manners of knowledge on varying and vast issues raise concern on proper information and knowledge being fed to our people daily on those issues which may create both better understanding and misunderstanding.
“Regardless of this, it is an issue we now grapple with and must address to ensure that this benefits our people, rather than having a negative impact.”
By IAN LADDS OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
