Ratifying an AI Bill of Rights
The ratification of an AI Bill of Rights; what began initially as alarming speculation has now manifested into actualization. On October 30th, 2023, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order titled Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, announcing a “society-wide effort that includes government, the private sector, academia, and civil society;” asserting that, “[t]he Federal Government should lead the way to global societal, economic, and technological progress, as the United States has in previous eras of disruptive innovation and change,” (WhiteHouse). The Executive Order strives to invoke artificial intelligence within healthcare, financial services, education, housing, law, and transportation; imposing regulatory federal oversight to each sector; its origin being the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, released last year in October 2022.
On October 11th, 2023, nearly three weeks before the Executive Order was imposed, U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington demanded binding precedence, directing a letter of concern to the Biden Adminstration. The proposal was supported by Congressional colleges Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen; Oregon Senator Ron Wyden; New Jersey Senator Cory Booker; Massachusetts Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren, with Massachusetts Representative Lori Trahan; New York Representatives Jamaal Bowman, and Yvette Clarke, Oregon Representative Suzanne Bonamici; California Representative Barbara Lee, Katie Porter, and Sara Jacobs (CA-51); Missouri Representative Cori Bush, Illinois Representative Delia Ramirez, and Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar. The caucus wrote; “[b]y turning the AI Bill of Rights from a non-binding statement of principles into federal policy, your Administration would send a clear message to both private actors and federal regulators: AI systems must be developed with guardrails. Doing so would also strengthen your Administration’s efforts to advance racial equity and support underserved communities, building on important work from previous executive orders,” (House).
The American citizen has begun to witness the rapid deployment of artificial technology throughout society; complete with binding federal legislation. The government imposing ubiquitous iterations of surveillance technology to replace the existing infrastructure endures an unacknowledged cost; beyond the rise of inflation and other invisible taxes to pay for this technological overhaul; the citizen must consider the effects of succumbing to omnipotent government intervention in all aspects of society. The AI Bill of Rights’ ambiguous wording allows for loose constructionists to develop legislative assault over the personal decisions of the individual to cede to the narrative of the Establishment.
The AI Bill of Rights reads; “[t]o advance President Biden’s vision, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has identified five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence,” (WhiteHouse). Some form of maleficence is typically associated with “automated systems to protect the public;” this conveys a campaign of coercion, gaslighting the public to fear their neighbor; the individual is far more willing to renounce their own rights and abdicate their own sovereignty, when offered a solution while confronted with a visible threat. This psychology was witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the government propagated persistent conditioning through mainstream media and federally funded agencies.
The government proposal reveals that reinterpreting the Constitution and utilizing the power of judicial review will allow a wedge to be placed between our Constitution and its Amendments; with that of another temporal elastic policy. This can only be conducted with the consent of the majority; thereby citizens are more likely to be normalized to the idea of amending policy for the times; this notion of radical amendments to suit contemporary times, smearing the objective right to sovereignty declared in the founding documents of the American nation. Will a second Bill of Rights, detract from the authority of our current 27 Amendments to the Constitution? Why wasn’t an additional amendment created, as opposed to a duplicate Bill of Rights?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicted in 2018 that “by 2025, machines will perform more current work tasks than humans, compared to 71% being performed by humans today,” (WEF). BBC warned in March 2023 that, “Artificial intelligence (AI) could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs, a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs says,” (BBC). The WEF advises that “one of the human brain’s biggest advantages over AI is the fact that it is attached to a real human body,” (WEF). The next stage in the process is merging Artificial Intelligence with the human body. Any human merged with AI would fall subject to the AI Bill of Rights, and the liberties of their AI counterpart would be perpetually regulated by the government. This means that human beings would act as biological containers for AI technology, themselves falling subject to the AI Bill of Rights, diminishing their protections under the U.S. Constitution. This is concerning, as the government can adjust the AI Bill of Rights to invoke any contingencies in its own legislation; therefore humans that merge with artificial intelligence must also conform to government regulation. The Founders of the American nation did not believe in top-down totalitarian control to restrain the liberties of the people; but the inverse. The Constitution was created to restrain the authority of government over people’s lives; guaranteeing sovereignty for posterity.
Israel’s Yuval Noah Harari predicts that within 200 years human beings will be replaced by artificial intelligence; referring to our current state as no greater than Neanderthals, (YouTube). Harari believes AI is the next stage in human evolution; stating that artificial technology is the means to achieving eternal life. Of synthetic technological advancements, he writes; that, “[f]ields and animals became vastly more productive thanks to artificial fertilizers, industrial insecticides and an entire arsenal of hormones and medications,” (Harari, Y., p. 341). The AI Bill of Rights adds that “government surveillance, and data search and seizure are subject to legal requirements and judicial oversight. There are Constitutional requirements for human review of criminal investigative matters and statutory requirements for judicial review,” (WhiteHouse).
The current blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights contains the following provisions;
- You should be protected from unsafe or ineffective systems;
- You should not face discrimination by algorithms and systems should be used and designed in an equitable way;
- You should be protected from abusive data practices via built-in protections and you should have agency over how data about you is used;
- You should know that an automated system is being used and understand how and why it contributes to outcomes that impact you;
- You should be able to opt out, where appropriate, and have access to a person who can quickly consider and remedy problems you encounter;
What constitutes an unsafe or ineffective system? Could an alternative to the narrative asserted by government be interpreted as an ineffective system? If so, could Artificial Intelligence be implemented against alternative free speech; thereby violating our First Amendment right?
The Brookings Institute denotes concerns within the current AI Blueprint model, stating that it “looks to the private sector for self-regulatory management,” adding that “[t]he Blueprint’s developers missed a major opportunity to implement a rights-based framework to automated decision making and make great strides in AI and criminal justice,” (Brookings). The Brookings Institute’s critique of the current AI Blueprint displays the egregious concerns that lie ahead; America is gearing up to complete its transformation into a total surveillance state, whereby the actions, rights, and privacy of the individual are persistently subjected to authoritative scrutiny. Individual citizens should not be subjected to government intervention and authoritative scrutiny, should they operate within the context of American law. The reconfiguration of American society into a total surveillance state deploys synthetic devices to impart an alternative to our U.S. Constitution.
The future of self-ruling Americans depends on the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution under Article VI, Paragraph 2, whereby no authority can impart jurisdiction that presides over the enumerated construct set forth to restrain tyranny.
Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution reads;
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
Will the A.I. Bill of Rights have its own Supremacy Clause; superseding the interests of temporal interpretive policy above America’s Constitutional foundation? Artificial Intelligence holds the power to allow the federal government to revoke our Constitution and its Amendments, thereby redacting our Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Should this occur, America will no longer be a Constitutional Republic; instead, it will be transformed into a constitutional dictatorship, whereby our rights are granted to us by the government. We should remember Ben Franklin’s response after the 1787 Philadelphia [Constitutional] Convention when asked by a woman what the delegates had concluded; Franklin replied “My dear lady, we have given to you a republic – if you can keep it,” (Barton, D., p. 743).
Jesus reminds us in Matthew that “[n]o one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money,” (Matthew 6:24; CSB). Although this passage discusses a comparison between objective morality given by God with the temporary procurement of wealth, it can be applied to the regulation of artificial intelligence. Humanity cannot serve two masters; therefore we must choose between individual morality referenced from objective eternal truth; or the imposed biased expectations of artificial intelligence. Any government obligation that violates a citizen’s inherent right to make decisions based on their belief in objective morality; thereby barring a citizen from their First Amendment Constitutionally guaranteed right to exercise freedom of religion; is tyranny.
Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence is an extension of man; not autonomous intelligence. AI cannot predict the future, nor can it guarantee human rights. The individual’s will and commitment to self-regulation is our nation’s only assurance at the preservation of civil rights, liberty, and impartial justice. Although the AI Bill of Rights is touted to preserve and protect Americans from its inherent risks; it facilitates the eradication of Constitutional Supremacy. This occurs as the effort to regulate AI is multinational. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic violated our sovereignty by mandating mass inoculation of experimental concoctions in order to participate in society or access public resources throughout major cities. If the government was able to exalt themselves above Constitutional order temporarily during a crisis; there is no predicting the magnitude of revocation that could occur should an event that breaches national security unfold. Distributing artificial intelligence throughout society gives the government the authority to regulate their citizens’ thoughts, speech, and actions by declaring every dissenting opinion as unsafe thereby targeting the individuality of each person, and the diversity of human culture.
Bibliography
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Harari, Yuval Noah. Sapiens (A Brief History) (p. 341). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Jayapal. (Accessed on December 5th, 2023). Representative Jayapal, Senator Markey Urge President Biden to Implement AI Bill of Rights in Upcoming Executive Order - Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. https://jayapal.house.gov/2023/10/11/representative-jayapal-senator-markey-urge-president-biden-to-implement-ai-bill-of-rights-in-upcoming-executive-order/
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