Biden administration pushing 'woke', far-left agenda on AI, says watchdog group

Conservative watchdog the American Accountability Foundation is warning that the Biden administration seeks to "inject dangerous ideologies" into AI systems. (File image of US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris/ AFP)

The Joe Biden administration is actively seeking to use artificial intelligence (AI) to promote a woke, progressive ideology with left-wing activists leading the effort, according to research from a conservative watchdog group.

The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) conducted research into the Biden administration's plans for AI and is now warning in a memo that top US officials under President Biden are seeking to inject "dangerous ideologies" into AI systems, Fox News Digital reported.

"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," AAF president Tom Jones told the publication.

The report added that the White House didn't respond to requests for a comment.

The allegations

"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, such as 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," Jones added.

In its memo, AAF cited several examples of what it described as the administration's campaign to make AI woke. One example is the "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights" released by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy last October. The document warns of "algorithmic discrimination" in which AI systems treat people differently based on their race, sex or other characteristics and calls 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."

To address such concerns, the blueprint recommends "proactive equity assessments as part of the system design," among other steps.

Arati Prabhakar, director of Biden's Office of Science and Technology Policy, while speaking at the Summit for Democracy in March, touted Biden's signing of an executive order the prior month that, in her words, "promotes data equity," directs agencies to fight "algorithmic discrimination" and ensures these agencies use AI to advance "equity."

3/ In March 2023, Biden's Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar told a room full of elites that Joe Biden signed an executive order that "promotes data equity," directs agencies to fight "algorithmic discrimination," and to use AI to advance "equity." pic.twitter.com/gCWHhJFOAI

— American Accountability Foundation (@ExposingBiden) June 25, 2023

That executive order, which Biden signed in February, states one of its goals is to "root out bias in the design and use of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence."

Training AI

AAF also highlights in its memo how months later, in May, the White House's Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, which falls under Prabhakar's purview, released the National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan, which 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 report goes on to say that "understanding how AI can reduce inequities stemming from systemic, structural and individual bias is an important area of research."

The AI committee that produced the report is part of the National Science and Technology Council, whose highest-ranking member is Vice President Kamala Harris, who Biden named "AI czar" to lead the administration's new initiative "to promote responsible AI innovation that protects Americans' rights and safety." Harris previously expressed similar concerns about racial bias in AI and the need to combat it.

"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," Harris said in 2019 while 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."

Warnings 

In its memo, AAF also flagged the appointment of Miriam Vogel to chair the National AI Advisory Committee, which advises the president on AI matters. Vogel is the president and CEO of EqualAI, a non-profit that seeks to "reduce unconscious bias in our AI and promote responsible AI governance."

Here’s something we’re not talking about nearly enough: racial bias in Artificial Intelligence. We should have real concern about how racial bias being built into technology is affecting people of color. pic.twitter.com/N5r9Go8UH9

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 23, 2019

On its website, EqualAI says 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."

In 2021, EqualAI partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to launch 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."

In May, the National AI Advisory Committee released a report stating that Biden has "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."

AAF's memo came days after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, unveiled his SAFE Innovation Framework, which warns that AI has the potential for "supercharged disinformation" and the "amplification of bias."

AI has become one of the most discussed issues since the AI tool ChatGPT was released in November. Twitter owner Elon Musk, for example, warned late last year that the new technology could be weaponised to push political agendas through false information.

"The danger of training AI to be woke — in other words, lie — is deadly," Musk had tweeted in December.

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 group tweeted. "What we have found will shock you."