Michael Shellenberger talks about AI and the Censorship Industrial Complex. Last week, Michael Shellenberger testified before the Senate about Artificial Intelligence. The threat of AI isn’t the technology itself, Michael argued. It’s the people who control the technology.
Case in point: tech platforms’ use of AI in the mass censorship of social media posts. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have routinely used AI to identify so-called mis- and disinformation and then labeled, shadowbanned or shut down accounts of people with the wrong opinions. Much of the Covid-related censorship we witnessed over the past three years was conducted through AI flagging. The US government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, through its partnership with the Stanford Internet Observatory’s “Virality Project,” used AI to find vaccine-skeptical posts on Facebook and Twitter. This project led to the removal of “often-true” content about Covid vaccines on social media. [Like what content, ivermection works? vaccines are bad for you? you have a right to infect others with a virus? What then?]
Unfortunately, the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in the Missouri v. Biden case held that government-sponsored flagging operations were not a violation of the First Amendment. That case will likely go to the Supreme Court, where we hope that part of the appellate court’s ruling will be reversed.
NGOs and government agencies have also hyped AI, and particularly deep fakes, in order to create a pretext for more censorship. Alarmists often claim that deep fakes are a major threat to democracy and require more “content moderation,” also known as censorship. Public’s investigation revealed that an organization called the Deep Trust Alliance was instrumental in developing this narrative. Deep Trust Alliance appears to have close ties with intelligence and security agencies, suggesting that these agencies may be weaponizing panic about AI and deep fakes to justify greater government censorship. [This sounds like BS!]
AI is a powerful tool, but it is a tool with the potential for both good and bad. As Michael testified, the problem is not with the technology itself but with how people choose to use it. Like other powerful technologies, such as nuclear energy and biomedical research, AI will be most dangerous if controlled in secretive and undemocratic ways.
[Note: Government censorship must follow a fine line, from not too much to not enough. In today's Fascist environment generated by the Far-Right, led by Trump with the great impact of FB, etc to spread false and misinformation that are clearly anti-democratic, we run the risk that authoritarianism (a soft term, but actually Fascism) will go beyond the cult of Trump and Republican sicophants. Political industries on the Far-Right are secretly also looking to AI to ramp up misinformation and generate BS of diversions. Michael S. needs to examine these issues or he will fall into pushing Far-Right ideologies that he may not realize until it's too late. The German people experienced similar issues in the 1930s. Democracy is fragile and must be protected. As in the book "1984," such interference in social intercourse develops from the Far-Right, not the Far Left. Remember, during the Soviet Union, their politburo consisted of Fascist oligarchs as today.]
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