Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government are sounding the alarm about the government's partnership with new artificial intelligence technology in order to censor differing viewpoints.
In a new and lengthy report, lawmakers detail extensive findings of an investigation into taxpayer funded collaboration between federal agencies, academic institutions and their efforts to quash dissent through claims of "misinformation."
"In the name of combatting alleged misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the 2020 election, NSF [National Science Foundation] has been issuing multi-million-dollar grants to university and non-profit research teams. The purpose of these taxpayer-funded projects is to develop artificial intelligence (AI)- powered censorship and propaganda tools that can be used by governments and Big Tech to shape public opinion by restricting certain viewpoints or promoting others," the report states.
“While AI has the potential to be a powerful tool, it can also be used for many nefarious purposes that infringes on the liberties’ of American citizens.”
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) February 6, 2024
LISTEN as @RepGregSteube outlines how MIT asked for federal funds to target certain Americans’ speech through AI. pic.twitter.com/IZQUwmCi8f
Alarmingly, the report found the federal government has the tools to censor "at scale," making the censorship industrial complex more powerful than ever. Documents show government and academic officials knew their efforts were censorship, proceeded anyway and then worked to coverup their efforts with AI technology.
"Non-public documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and the SelectSubcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government demonstrate that these federal bureaucrats, 'disinformation' researchers, and non-profit groups understood that their actions -- 'content moderation' and combatting so-called misinformation -- amounted to 'censorship.' And yet, NSF forged ahead, supporting new technologies that would essentially enable the censorship of online speech 'at scale,'" the report states.
"The Committee and the Select Subcommittee have also obtained, via document requests and subpoenas, nonpublic emails and other documents that reveal a years-long, intentional effort by NSF to hide its role in funding these censorship and propaganda tools from media and political scrutiny," the report continues. "From legal scholars, such as Jonathan Turley, to conservative journalists, NSF tracked public criticisms of its work in funding these projects. NSF went so far as to develop a media strategy that considered blacklisting certain American media outlets because they were scrutinizing NSF’s funding of censorship and propaganda tools."
As a result of the report's findings, officials at the National Science Foundation have been subpoenaed.
🚨 #BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan subpoenas the National Science Foundation for its role in the censorship of Americans. pic.twitter.com/jJsguDcbBz
— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) February 6, 2024