Dueling Hearings Shed Light on Government’s AI Efforts and Threat to Conservative Speech
Two congressional committees conducted hearings on Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Tuesday, with one focusing on the growing threat that the technology poses to conservative speech. The House Judiciary Select Weaponization Subcommittee held a hearing on a report exposing the Biden-led National Science Foundation’s (NSF) grants of $13 million to entities developing AI tools to combat misinformation. Meanwhile, the House Subcommittee on Research & Technology conducted a separate hearing, largely disregarding the concerns raised by the Weaponization Subcommittee regarding the potential censorship of dissenting American voices.
Republicans, led by Weaponization Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), accused the Biden administration of attempting to undermine the First Amendment through its AI efforts. The subcommittee uncovered emails in which some NSF grantees suggested that Americans were incapable of discerning truth from fiction online, and individuals who read the Bible and the Constitution were vulnerable to misinformation.
Jordan warned that the Biden administration was using taxpayer funds to censor Americans’ speech, particularly targeting those who hold sacred beliefs and rely on primary sources for forming their opinions. In response, he issued a subpoena demanding the NSF turn over documents related to this alleged AI-driven censorship plan.
The grants were distributed among prominent institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Michigan, and tech nonprofit Meedan. These organizations developed platforms like Search Lit, CourseCorrect, WiseDex, and Co-Insights, respectively. House Republicans referred to these initiatives as the Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems program in an interim report.
According to Republicans, the NSF aimed to implement education and training materials to protect individuals deemed susceptible to disinformation. This involved developing AI-generated censorship tools that could be deployed by social media platforms to suppress free speech.
While the Weaponization Subcommittee highlighted the NSF’s potential censorship efforts, Tess DeBlanc-Knowles, an NSF official, appeared before the House Subcommittee on Research & Technology to discuss the Biden administration’s AI objectives. However, apart from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who was a member of the Weaponization Subcommittee, the Republican members largely ignored the censorship concerns and evidence presented by the other committee.
Issa forcefully pressed DeBlanc-Knowles on the NSF’s purported censorship problem, questioning whether there was any difference between paying for speech abridgment and directly abridging speech. DeBlanc-Knowles failed to provide a satisfactory response to this query.
The Democratic Party representatives present at the Research and Technology hearing used the opportunity to advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the grant recipients’ programs. They asked about the inclusion of DEI principles in corporate governance structures and the racial diversity of initial trustees. Democrats also discussed redesigning AI to address systemic racism.
Regrettably, none of the Republicans at the hearing challenged these assertions or questioned the push for DEI in AI development.
In conclusion, the dueling hearings shed light on the government’s efforts concerning AI and the potential threat it poses to conservative speech. While the Weaponization Subcommittee raised concerns about the NSF’s funding of AI-generated tools that could lead to the censorship of dissenting American voices, the Research and Technology Subcommittee largely overlooked these concerns. The hearings showcased a stark difference in perspectives regarding the impact of AI on free speech and the role of government agencies in regulating it.
Conservatives who feel their speech is being suppressed are encouraged to contact their representatives to demand accountability from government agencies and Big Tech, emphasizing the importance of upholding the First Amendment while ensuring transparency and clarity regarding hate speech policies. If individuals have experienced censorship, they can reach out to the Media Research Center contact form for assistance in holding Big Tech accountable.
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