Tag: wef

Klaus Schwab Accused of Sexual Harassment at WEF

Klaus Schwab has been accused of sexual harassment and creating an “atmosphere hostile to women and black people” by multiple staff at the World Economic Forum.

A new investigation by The Wall Street Journal reveals a catalogue of accusations from dozens of members of WEF staff against the organization’s founder and executive chairman.

One woman told the Journal that Schwab repeatedly made suggestive comments to her and posed physically in front of her, presumably to impress her.

“There was a lot of pressure to be good-looking and wear tight dresses,” said another woman who worked at the WEF.

“Never in my career have I experienced looks being such an important topic as in the Forum.”

Schwab is accused of presiding over a workplace atmosphere that was “hostile to women and black people.”

“At least six female staffers were pushed out or otherwise saw their careers suffer when they were pregnant or returning from maternity leave,” the Journal reports.

“Another half dozen described sexual harassment they experienced at the hands of senior managers, some of whom remain at the Forum. Two said they were sexually harassed years ago by VIPs at Forum gatherings, including at Davos, where female staff were expected to be at the delegates’ beck and call. 

“In two more recent incidents, employees registered internal complaints after white Forum managers used the N-word around Black employees. Black employees also raised formal complaints to Forum leaders about being passed over for promotions or left out of Davos.”

The organization has denied all accusations of wrongdoing.

Keep reading

World Economic Forum Pushes For AI Use and Collaboration in Fighting “Misinformation”

The dual approach of talking up the benefits of AI when it comes to using this still very much emerging tech to combat “disinformation,” while warning against the perils of AI in creating that same “disinformation” – continues.

The point at which these two approaches converge is censorship – “both disinformation warriors” who want to use AI in their fight, and AI doomsayers who claim deepfakes will destroy democracies, work towards “monitoring,” “labeling,” and ultimately, controlling content.

And sometimes they’re the same informal but powerful groups, or government agencies and legacy media.

In this “installment” of the AI story coming from the World Economic Forum (WEF), authored by heads of AI, Data, and Metaverse Cathy Li and Global Coalition for Digital Safety Project Lead Agustina Callegari, we learn that WEF would like policymakers, tech firms, researchers, and civil rights groups to all band together and push for deployment of advanced AI-driven systems combating “disinformation and misinformation.”

The technique they would like explored, developed, and used would rely on pattern, language, and context analysis “to aid content moderation.”

The two authors of the post published by WEF are optimists: they think (or say they do) that AI-driven content analysis is at a level where it is capable of “understanding” context almost perfectly – or as they put it, understanding “the nuances between misinformation (unintentional spread of falsehoods) and disinformation (deliberate spread).”

The article speaks favorably about authenticity and watermarking of content – such as is done by Adobe, Microsoft, et al., through their Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), throwing the obligatory bone in the direction of those worried about privacy and protecting journalists from persecution “in conflict zones” (but what about journalists in all the other zones?)

Keep reading

Big Tech Coalition Partners With WEF, Pushes “Global Digital Safety” Standards

Big Tech coalition Digital Trust & Safety Partnership (DTSP), the UK’s regulator OFCOM, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have come together to produce a report.

The three entities, each in their own way, are known for advocating for or carrying out speech restrictions and policies that can result in undermining privacy and security.

DTSP says it is there to “address harmful content” and makes sure online age verification (“age assurance”) is enforced, while OFCOM states its mission to be establishing “online safety.”

Now they have co-authored a WEF (WEF Global Coalition for Digital Safety) report – a white paper – that puts forward the idea of closer cooperation with law enforcement in order to more effectively “measure” what they consider to be online digital safety and reduce what they identify to be risks.

The importance of this is explained by the need to properly allocate funds and ensure compliance with regulations. Yet again, “balancing” this with privacy and transparency concerns is mentioned several times in the report almost as a throwaway platitude.

The report also proposes co-opting (even more) research institutions for the sake of monitoring data – as the document puts it, a “wide range of data sources.”

More proposals made in the paper would grant other entities access to this data, and there is a drive to develop and implement “targeted interventions.”

Keep reading

Maybe We’re Closer to ‘You’ll Own Nothing’ Than We Realize

The World Economic Forum’s catchphrase you’ll own nothing and be happy was widely mocked as an eyebrow-raising vision of a “sharing economy” future without the implicit agency granted by full ownership. Renting stuff that one needed only for one-time use has long been a market, and car-sharing makes sense for urban dwellers who only need a vehicle on occasion.

But to own nothing still implies powerlessness and poverty, not happiness, which continues to be associated with owning income streams and nice things, i.e. wealth.

Given our dependence on software / digital rights and the phantom wealth of credit-asset bubbles,”how much do we actually own?” is a fair question. Consider the recent New York Times article Why Tech Companies Are Not Your Friends: Lessons From Roku, which was reprinted in other publications with the more accurate title Our Gadgets Are Not Ours.

The gist of the article is that since we don’t own control of the software, our “ownership” of the device is illusory. Here is an excerpt:

More than a decade ago, when we bought a TV it was just that–a big screen that let you plug into it whatever you wanted. Nowadays, the vast majority of TVs connect to the internet and run the manufacturer’s operating system and apps. Even though you bought the TV, the software component, a major part of what makes the product work, remains controlled by the company.

Changes to the product’s software interface and data collection practices can happen at any moment. In extreme examples, a device can stop working. In 2020, for instance, Amazon deactivated the Echo Look, a camera that helped people organize their wardrobes. It issued a promotional credit for owners to buy a different Amazon gadget that lacked similar features.

The less extreme, more common situation is when companies stop supporting older products because they need to sell new gadgets. Apple’s original Apple Watch from 2015, for example, no longer gets software updates and now barely works.

Keep reading

Klaus Schwab Steps Down As World Economic Forum Executive Chairman

‘You’ll own nothing in retirement and be happy’…

Wit the organization he founded 50 years ago bringing in nearly $500 million in revenue in the year ending March 2023 (and sitting on a neat pile of 200 million Swiss francs cash), Klaus Schwab will own some things as he reportedly steps back from his role running the World Economic Forum has has headed since 1971.

Semafor reports that Schwab announced his intentions to step down as executive chairman in an email to staff on Tuesday that was shared with Semafor by a person connected to the organization.

The change in his role is pending approval by the Swiss government but should be finalized ahead of the WEF’s annual meeting in 2025.

Schwab, now 86, will be transitioning to a role as non-executive chairman.

Keep reading

The WEF’s chairman is still alive and well, despite claims online

CLAIM: World Economic Forum executive chairman Klaus Schwab was recently admitted to the hospital in serious condition and might have died.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Posts making these allegations began spreading widely after a website that says it publishes “satire, and comedic opinion pieces and editorials” posted an article about Schwab’s supposed hospitalization. A WEF spokesperson told The Associated Press that the claims are untrue.

THE FACTS: Social media users are spreading baseless rumors about Schwab’s health.

“BREAKING: Klaus Schwab was apparently admitted to the hospital seriously ill,” reads one X post that had received approximately 25,000 likes and 8,800 shares as of Monday. “Anyway, that doesn’t BUG me.”

The word “bug” appears to be emphasized in reference to another false claim, that the WEF wants to replace meat with bugs.

Other posts go a step further, stating that Schwab “may be dead.”

But the WEF founder is not deathly ill or worse, according to Yann Zopf, a spokesperson for the organization.

“These claims are entirely baseless and unfounded,” he wrote in an email to the AP. “Professor Schwab’s health is excellent. Like many high-profile individuals and organizations, he and the World Economic Forum have been targeted by conspiracy narratives, as well as misinformation and disinformation campaigns.”

Keep reading

Globalist World Economic Forum calls for governments to impose AUTHORITARIAN MEASURES against critics

The globalist World Economic Forum (WEF) has issued a call for governments worldwide, alongside technology giants, to impose authoritarian measures against its critics.

According to the unelected WEF, its call for Big Tech and Big Government to collaborate against skeptics only strives to address what it calls “disinformation.” In reality, however, the globalist group ultimately seeks to eradicate dissenting opinions.

In a statement, the group founded by German globalist Klaus Schwab warned that disinformation poses a threat to the world’s ecosystem. It urged “experts” to elucidate to world leaders and bureaucrats how to restrain opposition to the globalist agenda. The WEF ultimately asserted that global governments, media outlets, tech giants, and civil society must intensify their endeavors in the so-called “anti-disinformation” crusade.

According to the WEF, the purported “disinfo” surge can be attributed to digital technology and a “fragmented media ecosystem.” This “disinformation,” it added, is solely responsible for the public’s declining trust in corporate media, governments, Big Tech and globalist institutions. Fearmongering about artificial intelligence (AI) features prominently in the WEF’s narrative on its website to advance its agenda.

To combat this perceived issue and restore trust in corporate media, the WEF is advocating for a society-wide “war on misinformation.” The WEF calls for powerful forces in society to unite and establish “a multi-layered defense against the spread of disinformation.”

Keep reading

John Kerry, At The WEF: No Single Politician Can Reverse The Net Zero Agenda Now

Jet-setting climate con man, John Kerry, speaking at the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos: “If you wound up with a different president who was opposed to the climate crisis, I got news for you: No one politician anywhere in the world can undo what is happening now.”

“The only issue for all of us is not whether or not we can get to a low carbon/no carbon economy globally. We will. The only question is, will we get there in time to meet the challenge of the scientists, in order to avoid the worst consequences of this crisis? That is what is at stake.”

“It’s the biggest transformation in the economies of the world in all of human history. It’s also the greatest business set of opportunities that we’ve ever known in all of human history.”

Keep reading

Disease X and the Make-believe World of Experts

This week, world leaders met in Davos to discuss the threat of a so-called ‘Disease X’ pandemic and how best to prepare for such an event.  Described as a ‘placeholder name’ – nobody seems to know what the origins, epidemiology, or any other defining characteristics of this disease will be, other than the people promoting this idea suggesting that it is likely cause 20% more fatalities than the Covid-19 pandemic.  In a session titled: ‘Preparing for Disease X’, chair Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus led a panel discussion on ‘novel efforts needed to prepare healthcare systems for the multiple challenges ahead if we are to be prepared for a much more deadly pandemic’.

The current debate on ‘Disease X’ crystalises perhaps the biggest accusation that has been made against orthodox science during these times – the use of ‘scientism’ to promote both government policy and widespread changes to our society and to the ways in which we live.  This is a dangerous combination to be sure, the implications of which have been highlighted by Patrick M. Wood in his own take on scientism:

It is a fatal error to equate scientism with science.  True science explores the natural world using the time-tested scientific method of repeated experimentation and validation.  By comparison, scientism is a speculative, metaphysical, upside-down worldview about the nature of the universe and man’s relation to it.  If left unchecked, scientism – as expressed through technocracy and transhumanism, will end with the abolition of man and the civilization that it has built (Wood, 2022: 3).

Keep reading

Davos Globalist Demands Worldwide ‘Coordinated System of Carbon Taxes’ at WEF Summit

The climate change agenda can only be fully if international carbon taxes are implemented on the global population, Saudi Arabian Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan proclaimed at the World Economic Forum meeting this week.

During a panel discussion on the “Global Economic Outlook” on Friday during the annual WEF meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos, Al-Jadaan argued that in order to solve the supposed climate crisis, a global carbon tax will be required.

“There is no realistic solution to the climate transition that does not involve a globally coordinated system of carbon taxes,” the Saudi politician said.

Al-Jadaan rejected the notion that such a system would hit the poor and developing nations the hardest, by hindering industrial growth and spurring inflation, arguing that such countries will face even worse outcomes if climate change is not prevented by international intervention.

“There’s a perception that it’s unjust, it’s unfair, it will lead to inflation. In fact, quite the contrary. If we don’t do this, the countries that will suffer most ultimately are the developing countries. They’re going to be the worst affected by climate change,” he said.

“What we need is a system of carbon taxes coupled with subsidies for developing households and a stream of funding for the developing world, to allow them to engage in investments and mitigations and adaption that allows them to keep growing. And that’s a real opportunity,” Al-Jadaan continued.

“It’s a fair solution and it’s the only realistic solution, and we can’t keep ducking it,” he concluded.

Keep reading