For some time now, emerging AI has been treated not only by the Biden-Harris administration, but also by the EU, UK, Canada, and the United Nations, as a scourge that generates dangerous forms of “disinformation” and must be addressed. Accordingly.
According to these governments/organizations, the only “positive use” of AI as far as social media and online speech is concerned would be to enforce more effective censorship (“moderation”).
A new report from the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government explains the often disproportionate alarm over the technology’s role in “disinformation” and the push to use the technology for censorship. is focused on.
I got a copy of the report here.
The name of the interim report states the authors’ views on this very clearly. The document is called “Censorship’s Next Frontier: The Federal Government’s Attempt to Control Artificial Intelligence to Suppress Free Speech.”
The main premise of this report is well known. AI is currently being funded, developed and used by governments and third parties to increase the speed and scale of censorship, with the outgoing administration putting pressure on AI developers to tighten censorship. That to their model.
What’s new are proposed steps to improve this situation and ensure that future federal governments don’t use AI for censorship. To this end, the committee wants new legislation passed by Congress, respecting the First Amendment, and open, decentralized, “freedom-defending” AI development.
The report recommends legislation based on four principles focused on protecting Americans’ right to free speech. The first is that governments cannot be involved when decisions are made using private algorithms or datasets regarding “misinformation” or “bias.”
Governments should also be prohibited from funding censorship-related research or collaboration with foreign entities on AI regulations that lead to censorship.
Finally, the document recommends “avoiding unnecessary AI regulation that imposes enforcement powers on governments.”
The commission not only has made many direct moves by the Biden-Harris administration to regulate space to its own political satisfaction through executive orders, but also in the past through grant funding through the National Science Foundation. By doing so, we are mindful of the current situation in which the policy has been pushed forward. Again, the aim is to build AI tools that “fight misinformation.”
But “if allowed to develop in a free and open manner, AI has the potential to dramatically expand Americans’ ability to create knowledge and express themselves,” the report says.
