The Biden administration is pushing to transform artificial intelligence (AI) to promote a woke agenda led by left-wing activists and censor conservatives, warned a conservative watchdog group.
The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) reviewed the White House’s plans for AI and posted a warning on Twitter that top government officials are seeking to infuse “dangerous ideologies” into AI systems.
AAF president Tom Jones told Fox News Digital that “under the guise of fighting ‘algorithmic discrimination’ and ‘harmful bias,’ the Biden administration is trying to rig AI to follow the woke left’s rules.”
“Biden is being advised on technology policy not by scientists but by racially obsessed social academics and activists. We’re already seen the biggest tech firms in the world, like Google under Eric Schmidt, use their power to push the left’s agenda. This would take the tech/woke alliance to a whole new, truly terrifying level,” explained Jones.
White House Plans to Weaponize AI Against Conservatives
“The Biden administration’s efforts [to] make AI woke is absolutely terrifying. The prospect of AI being rigged by the left is truly Orwellian,” Jones told the New York Post.
“This is just another example of how the woke never miss an opportunity to seize power. All Americans need to know about what Biden and his cronies are up to.”
The AAF memo cited four recent Democratic documents as evidence of the Biden administration’s plot to “wokeify” AI technology.
One document is the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, which was released by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) last October.
The document warned of “algorithmic discrimination” in which AI systems could treat people differently based on their race, sex, or other characteristics.
The paper called for data “used as part of system development or assessment” to be “reviewed for bias based on the historical and societal context of the data” and recommended “proactive equity assessments as part of the system design,” along with other actions.
Speaking at the Summit for Democracy in March, Arati Prabhakar, director of OSTP, praised Biden’s February executive order for promoting “data equity” and directing agencies to fight “algorithmic discrimination” so AI can advance and equitable agenda.
Biden Officials Issue Steps to “Wokeify” AI Technology
President Joe Biden first issued an executive order in February to “continuously embed equity into all aspects of federal decision-making.”
The order instructed federal bureaucrats to ensure that all AI systems in the United States are programmed to comply with the global woke agenda.
“When designing, developing, acquiring, and using artificial intelligence and automated systems in the federal government, agencies shall do so, consistent with applicable law, in a manner that advances equity,” said the order.
It also instructs federal agencies to “ensure that their respective civil rights offices are consulted” on any decisions regarding the use of AI in order to “root out bias in the design and use of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence” and combat “algorithmic discrimination.”
On May 23, the White House’s Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, which is also run by Prabhakar, released the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan.
This calls for additional resources to fight “harmful biases” and warns “AI systems are prone to ‘hallucinate’ and recapitulate biases derived from the unfiltered data from the internet used to train them.”
The memo says that “understanding how AI can reduce inequities stemming from systemic, structural, and individual bias is an important area of research.”
The OSTP announced another directive titled, “New Steps to Advance Responsible Artificial Intelligence Research, Development, and Deployment.”
These “steps” included an “updated roadmap to focus federal investments [i.e., taxpayer dollars] in AI research and development,” along with an advice questionnaire called Request for Information National Priorities for Artificial Intelligence.
The White House has also hosted so-called “listening sessions” with “workers” on future AI policy with a left-wing political bent, which is devoted to influencing elections against conservative candidates.
The committee that produced the report is part of the National Science and Technology Council, which is led by Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden’s “AI Czar.”
Biden put Harris, who has been critical about alleged racial bias in AI, in charge of the administration’s plan “to promote responsible AI innovation that protects Americans’ rights and safety.”
“When we look at … issues like AI and machine learning, there is a real need to be very concerned about how being built into it is racial bias,” said Harris in 2019, as a senator from California.
“It’s a real issue, and it’s happening in real time. And the thing about racial bias in technology is that, unlike the racial bias that you can pretty easily [detect] when you get stopped in a department store or while you’re driving, the bias that is built into technology will not be very easy to detect.”
Administration’s AI Agenda in Line With WEF’s Davos Policies
The AAF is also concerned about the appointment of Miriam Vogel to chair the National AI Advisory Committee, which advises the president on AI technology.
Vogel is the president and CEO of EqualAI, a left-wing organization partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is dedicated to reducing “unconscious bias in our AI and promote responsible AI governance.”
In 2021, the WEF and EqualAI launched the “EqualAI Badge Program,” which “trains and certifies” senior executives at companies developing or using AI “to ensure their brand is known for its responsible and inclusive practices.”
EqualAI said on its website that AI programs and “particularly customer-facing systems should be checked for bias on a routine basis,” adding that AI “learns new patterns as it is fed new data and can adopt new biases.”
The National AI Advisory Committee released a report in May stating that the president had “clearly articulated his interest in ending discrimination and bias (including algorithmic discrimination and bias).”
The report defined “trustworthy AI” in part as “valid and reliable … and fair with harmful bias managed.”
Conservatives and Free Speech Advocates Wary of Democrats’ Motives
The debate over AI has become heavily politicized since the AI tool ChatGPT was released last November.
Dan Schneider, vice president for Free Speech America, told NewsBusters that “the Biden administration said the quiet part out loud. Using AI to interfere in elections is one of the key tactics the left intends to use to hold onto the White House.”
“AI is already being used to figure out how to manipulate and control what people think. We have a short window to stop this attack on our rights.”
Twitter ownder Elon Musk has been sounding the alarm about the potential for AI to go rogue and of the risks of weaponizing it to push a woke political agenda.
“The danger of training AI to be woke—in other words, lie—is deadly,” Musk wrote in a tweet in December.
Last week, President Biden hosted a roundtable in California with critics over Silicon Valley’s role in developing AI technology.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently rolled out a bill for regulating AI to stop what he calls “disinformation.”
His SAFE Innovation Framework bill warns that AI has the potential for “supercharged disinformation” and the “amplification of bias.”
According to AAF, its research about the Biden administration is part one of what it described as an investigation into “woke” AI.
“Stay tuned for more,” the AFF tweeted. “What we have found will shock you.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House and AFF for comment.
