Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) strongly criticized a project affiliated with a university that had received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop an AI system that would censor free speech.
During a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, Cammack expressed her concerns about the project, which she believes is a mere attempt by the University of Michigan to silence content that they do not agree with and shield social media companies from legal responsibility for censorship. She was a member of the House Select Weaponization Subcommittee, which was holding a hearing on the weaponization of AI for online content censorship.
Her comments were specifically directed towards a grant proposal sent by the University of Michigan to the NSF, outlining their plans for a service called “WiseDex,” which would be able to identify and filter out “misinformation” from social media.
The grant proposal boasted about the potential of “WiseDex” to outsource the responsibility of censorship to third parties, making it easier for social media platforms to get away with censoring content without facing backlash. The NSF granted a total of $750,000 in taxpayer funds to the University of Michigan through their “Track F” program.
The program’s goal was to create a “golden set service” that would determine the accuracy of content and an API that could inform social media companies about the truthfulness of a particular post.
Cammack highlighted a slide from the university’s grant proposal, which revealed their true motives. The slide stated, “Our misinformation service helps policymakers at social media platforms get good PR for their actions on misinformation by having a clear benchmark for outcomes and eliminating the need to defend internal procedures.”
Cammack expressed her discomfort with the language used in the grant proposal, especially the statement, “We get people off our backs for how we act on misinformation.” She further mentioned, “We eliminate the need to defend specific procedures,” as if accountability was not a priority for the project.
Cammack’s criticism came after the Weaponization Subcommittee released an interim report that exposed the NSF’s spending of $39 million on various “Track F” programs. These programs, launched on March 18, 2021, aimed to develop AI-powered tools that would help big tech companies combat misinformation. However, as Cammack pointed out, these tools could potentially be misused to censor free speech and silence opposing viewpoints.
.@RepKatCammack exposes how National Science Foundation grants are used to dodge accountability, "get people off our backs"@JudiciaryGOP @Weaponization pic.twitter.com/iUcXQb6Db5
— Christian (@MonteCristo1837) February 6, 2024
Cammack strongly condemned the NSF’s funding of a university project that aims to develop an AI system for censorship. She brought attention to the project’s questionable motives and expressed concern about the potential repercussions of such technology. Cammack’s remarks serve as a reminder of the importance of protecting free speech and holding those in positions of power accountable for their actions.