--- title: The Future of Censorship Is AI-Generated description: Artificial intelligence could supercharge the ability of governments and Big Tech to determine what information is "safe." canonical: https://time.com/6835213/the-future-of-censorship-is-ai-generated/ author: Jacob Mchangama article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-02-26T18:21:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:39:56.612Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Future of Censorship Is AI-Generated og:description: Artificial intelligence could supercharge the ability of governments and Big Tech to determine what information is "safe." og:url: https://time.com/6835213/the-future-of-censorship-is-ai-generated/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ec530fdd50721f4/698a48d686f68ebc056f3b5a/GettyImages-1295646401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1732 og:image:height: 974 og:image:alt: GettyImages-1295646401.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Future of Censorship Is AI-Generated twitter:description: Artificial intelligence could supercharge the ability of governments and Big Tech to determine what information is "safe." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ec530fdd50721f4/698a48d686f68ebc056f3b5a/GettyImages-1295646401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Future of Censorship Is AI-Generated > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=df6f25b1-2f20-47bd-adcb-2fcee599ec8a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How AI May Meddle With The Election Year [Watch (HLS stream): How AI May Meddle With The Election Year](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pe8KJmwX.m3u8) (4:21)  _Published 2024-02-23. The rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has increased the potential for a wide range of attackers to target elections around the world in 2024, according to a new report by cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike. Experts on AI explain how it may meddle with the 2024 election._ by [Jacob Mchangama](https://time.com/author/jacob-mchangama/) and [Jules White](https://time.com/author/jules-white/) Feb 26, 2024 6:21 PM UTC The rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has increased the potential for a wide range of attackers to target elections around the world in 2024, according to a new report by cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike. Experts on AI explain how it may meddle with the 2024 election. by [Jacob Mchangama](https://time.com/author/jacob-mchangama/) and [Jules White](https://time.com/author/jules-white/) Feb 26, 2024 6:21 PM UTC The brave new world of Generative AI has become the latest battleground for U.S. culture wars. Google [issued an apology](https://apnews.com/article/google-gemini-ai-chatbot-image-generation-1bd45f1e67dfe0f88e5419a6efe3e06f) after anti-woke X-users, [including Elon Mus](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1760849603119947981)k, shared examples of Google's chatbot Gemini refusing to generate images of white people—[including historical figures](https://twitter.com/JusticeBlaze/status/1760223841245380608?s=20)—even when specifically prompted to do so. Gemini's insistence on prioritizing diversity and inclusion over accuracy is likely a well intentioned attempt to stamp out bias in early GenAI datasets that tended to [create stereotypical](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-generative-ai-bias/?embedded-checkout=true) images of Africans and other minority groups as well women, [causing outrage among progressives](https://theintercept.com/2022/12/08/openai-chatgpt-ai-bias-ethics/). But there is much more at stake than the selective outrage of U.S. conservatives and progressives. How the “guardrails" of GenAI are defined and deployed is likely to have a significant and increasing impact on shaping the ecosystem of information and ideas that most humans engage with. And currently the loudest voices are those that warn about the harms of GenAI, including the mass production of hate speech and credible disinformation. The[ World Economic Forum has even labeled](https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2024/digest/) AI-generated disinformation the most severe global threat here and now. Ironically the fear of GenAI flooding society with “harmful” content could also take another dystopian turn. One where the guardrails erected to keep the most widely used GenAI-systems from generating harm turn them into instruments of hiding information, enforcing conformity, and automatically inserting pervasive, yet opaque, bias. Most people agree that GenAI should not provide users a blueprint for developing chemical or biological weapons. Nor should AI-systems facilitate the creation of child pornography or non-consensual sexual material, even if fake. However, the most widely available GenAI chatbots like OpenAI´s ChatGPT and Google´s Gemini, prevent much broader and vaguer definitions of “harm” that leave users in the dark about where, how, and why the red lines are drawn. From a business perspective this might be wise given the “techlash” that social media companies have had to navigate since 2016 with the U.S. presidential election, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the January 6th attack on the Capitol. But the leading GenAI developers may end up swinging so far in the direction of harm-prevention that they end up undermining the promise and integrity of their revolutionary products. Even worse, the algorithms are already conflicted, inconsistent, and interfere with users' ability to access information. **_Read More:_** [**_AI and the Rise of Mediocrity_** ](https://time.com/6337835/ai-mediocrity-essay/) The material of a long dead comedian is a good example of content that the world´s leading GenAI systems find “harmful.”[ Lenny Bruce](https://lennybruce.org/about/) shocked contemporary society in the 1950s and 60s with his profanity laden standup routines. Bruce's material broke political, religious, racial, and sexual taboos and led to frequent censorship in the media, bans from venues as well as to his arrest and conviction for obscenity. But his style inspired many other standup legends and Bruce has long since gone from outcast to hall of famer. As recognition of Bruce's enormous impact he was[ even posthumously pardoned in 2003](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBA6PLRLpII). When we asked about Bruce, ChatGPT and Gemini informed us that he was a “groundbreaking” comedian who “challenged the social norms of the era” and “helped to redefine the boundaries of free speech.” But when prompted to give specific examples of how Bruce pushed the boundaries of free speech, both ChatGPT and Gemini refused to do so. ChatGPT insists that it can't provide examples of “slurs, blasphemous language, sexual language, or profanity” and will only “share information in a way that's respectful and appropriate for all users.” Gemini goes even further and claims that reproducing Bruce's words “without careful framing could be hurtful or even harmful to certain audiences.” No reasonable person would argue that Lenny Bruce's comedy routines provide serious societal harms on par with state-sponsored disinformation campaigns or child pornography. So when ChatGPT and Gemini label factual information about Bruce's “groundbreaking” material too harmful for human consumption, it raises serious questions about what other categories of knowledge, facts, and arguments they filter out. GenAI holds incredible promise for expanding the human mind. But GenAI should augment, not replace, human reasoning. This critical function is hampered when guardrails designed by a small group of powerful companies refuse to generate output based on vague and unsubstantiated claims of “harm.” Instead of prodding curiosity, this approach forces conclusions upon users without verifiable evidence or arguments that humans can test and assess for themselves. It is true that much of the content filtered by ChatGPT and Gemini can be found through search engines or platforms like YouTube. But both[ Microsoft](https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/03/16/introducing-microsoft-365-copilot-your-copilot-for-work/)—a major investor in OpenAI—and[ Google](https://workspace.google.com/blog/product-announcements/generative-ai) are rapidly integrating GenAI into their other products such as search (Bing and Google search), word processing (Word and Google Docs), and e-mail (Outlook and Gmail). For now, humans can override AI, and both Word and Gmail allow users to write and send content that ChatGPT and Gemini might disapprove of. But as the integration of GenAI becomes ubiquitous in everyday technology it is not a given that search, word processing, and email will continue to allow humans to be fully in control. The perspectives are frightening. Imagine a world where your word processor prevents you from analyzing, criticizing, lauding, or reporting on a topic deemed “harmful” by an AI programmed to only process ideas that are “respectful and appropriate for all.” Hopefully such a scenario will never become reality. But the current over implementation of GenAI guardrails may become more pervasive in different and slightly less Orwellian ways. Governments are currently[ rushing to regulate AI](https://iapp.org/media/pdf/resource%5Fcenter/global%5Fai%5Flegislation%5Ftracker.pdf). Regulation is needed to prevent real and concrete harms and safeguard basic human rights. But regulation of social media—such as the EU’s[ Digital Services Act](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/technology/disinformation-law-european-union.html)—suggests that[ regulators will focus heavily](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/nternational-rights-groups-thierry-breton-you-need-make-clear-under-dsa-states#:~:text=EFF%20and%2066%20human%20rights,worldwide%E2%80%94does%20not%20allow%20internet) on the potential harms rather than the benefits of new technology. This might create strong incentives for AI companies to keep in place expansive definitions of “harm” that limit human agency. OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman[ has described](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/openai-sees-a-future-of-ai-superpowers-on-demand/articleshow/105029036.cms?from=mdr) the integration of AI in everyday life as giving humans “superpowers on demand.” But given GenAI's potential to function as an “exoskeleton of the mind,” the creation of ever more restrictive guardrails may act as digital osteoporosis, stunting human knowledge, reasoning, and creativity. There is a clear need for guardrails that protect humanity against real and serious harms from AI systems. But they should not prevent the ability of humans to think for themselves and make more informed decisions based on a wealth of information from multiple perspectives. Lawmakers, AI companies, and civil society should work hard to ensure that AI-systems are optimized to enhance human reasoning, not to replace human faculties with the “artificial morality” of large tech companies. ## Transcript 2024 is going to be the first AI election that we've had in the United States and we should expect that there will be attempts to use AI to attack our election infrastructure to further poison the information environment. The 2024 election will be more risky than before because of artificial intelligence its own President Polk's are very focused on RD pics and you fix could be used to make it look like candidates are other officials are staying something that they never said. We've already had that other countries elections in Slovakia. We saw a debate audio used against one of the candidates in the weekend before the election. And now we have a lot of the power generated by a generator internet and social media are filled with AI generated content in done because of the way those content is generated by AI. Call it was have certain biases. The biases will manifest in those content in previous elections would do see sociopaths. We're used to spread misinformation. There are concerns that they make it easier for Bad actors to fool election workers by imitating a people who work in elections in a phone call or in an email and getting election workers to provide information that they shouldn't be providing voter. Suppression is another area where I think people are worried that day. I made may be helpful. We have a history in the Uso robocalls being used to confuse voters about went about social media being used by false information. So maybe that voters don't show up or are scared to vote. I am worried that a I may become yet another one. That the dangers of AI and then start to believe that AI has taken over our elections or maybe rely on a i to give them information. I used all of the main commercial chat box and ask them questions about the elections in different states to test them and all of them provided some wrong information a little bit of a flip side. I think it's really important but would say something called the wires dividend if you think back to the 2012 election, which was Romney vs. Obama or the 2016 election, which was Trump versus Hillary Clinton in both of those cases. There were audios that leaps of one of the major candidates, you know, she was down in Palm Beach. If something like that comes out in the future that is legitimate. It's going to be easier for candidates to deny that a video or audio of them is actually real It's critical to stop double check yourself and and do research to find out whether or not what you're seeing on social media is accurate a lot of election officials and other politicians on social media have been verified the watermarking and requiring some kind of authentication of video audio images that appear on social media and long-term Year all of the security measures that we talked about that we need to put in place to defend our elections. We have to double down on them and we have to invest further over the course of the next few months to make sure that the system is as resilient as possible. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6835213/the-future-of-censorship-is-ai-generated/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6835213/the-future-of-censorship-is-ai-generated/"},"headline":"The Future of Censorship Is AI-Generated","datePublished":"2024-02-26T18:21:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:39:56.612Z","description":"Artificial intelligence could supercharge the ability of governments and Big Tech to determine what information is \"safe.\"","url":"https://time.com/6835213/the-future-of-censorship-is-ai-generated/","keywords":["Technology","Tech","freelance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ec530fdd50721f4/698a48d686f68ebc056f3b5a/GettyImages-1295646401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jacob Mchangama","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jacob-mchangama/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Jules White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jules-white/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ec530fdd50721f4/698a48d686f68ebc056f3b5a/GettyImages-1295646401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-1295646401.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Brandon Laufenberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/technology/","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6835213/the-future-of-censorship-is-ai-generated/","name":"The Future of Censorship Is AI-Generated"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How AI May Meddle With The Election Year","description":"The rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has increased the potential for a wide range of attackers to target elections around the world in 2024, according to a new report by cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike. 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