Turkish communications director urges updating digital media literacy for use of AI

By Muhammed Enes Calli

ISTANBUL (AA) - Digital media literacy should be updated for the use of artificial intelligence in the industry, Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Managing Al in Media forum organized by Anadolu in Ankara, Altun said: "If we want to manage the use of artificial intelligence in the media, we must update digital media literacy to include artificial intelligence strategies and make it publicly accessible."

"We aim to enrich digital media literacy and culture with new technologies and make it accessible to the public. One of the important steps we have taken in this direction is our steadfast stance in combating disinformation."

"Our efforts in combating disinformation have created public awareness and brought a new and institutional dimension to digital media literacy," Altun added.

He said another essential step in the use of artificial intelligence in the media is to create an AI ethics guide, and expressed hope that it would be one of the outcomes of the event.

"... We must act with the awareness that artificial intelligence technologies are directly related to national security. In this process, not only public institutions but also the private sector should take responsibility," the communications director said.

"We believe, under the leadership of our president (Recep Tayyip Erdogan), that the new era will be the century of communications and digital. Accordingly, we are working towards the fair and effective use of artificial intelligence in the media for the sake of truth."

To overcome the challenges that come with artificial intelligence in the media and to benefit from the opportunities it provides, Altun said: "We need to uphold human rights, humane governance, humane leadership, planning, and audit."

"In the context of the use of artificial intelligence in the media, the issue of dehumanization and cultural erosion is a matter that we must absolutely manage."

"It is very clear that we need to be bold in the artificial intelligence usage in the media. We will rely on history, culture, our human capacities, and trust in each other," Altun said.

He said the system behind global injustice is also producing and using AI technologies, adding: "As it stands, artificial intelligence is an element deepening global injustice."

"If we are to discuss a just media order on a global scale today, then as humanity we are obligated to establish a healthy balance between justice and power for the assurance of peace, prosperity, and stability on a global scale."

Türkiye's international struggle led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an honorable fight against global injustice, he stressed.