Censorship

Ask a chatbot in China about Chinese politics, and it will either clam up or echo the official Communist Party line. New studies show a surprising twist: American artificial-intelligence models are unwittingly doing the same—and researchers say AI companies haven’t done much to fix it.

What I’ve realized is that responsible A.I. governance may really come down to something resembling a First Amendment approach. Large language models, to me, are simply artifacts: objects made from the language expressed by tens of millions of people. And Anthropic, to me, is a software publisher. I do not see Claude as a living thing; I see it as a reference work prone to glitching, a surreal encyclopedia with wild side effects.

Apparently, the Trump administration has asked OpenAI to stagger the release of an upcoming powerful artificial intelligence model. OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman told employees that the US government requested that it initially release GPT-5.6 to a short list of trusted partners before pushing it out more widely. Altman said that the US government has grown more anxious about the capabilities of the most cutting-edge models.

In the fight over the license renewals of eight Disney-owned ABC television stations, the Media Action Center and Frequency Forward filed a Petition to Deny at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The petition demands that the FCC grant Disney's renewal applications immediately, but warns that if Disney agrees to restrict its speech or editorial independence to secure those renewals, the groups will seek license revocation.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act Act, legislation to hold the government accountable for censorship and violations of the First Amendment. Jawboning occurs when the government pressures private companies to censor speech protected by the First Amendment. Americans face significant hurdles in proving these violations.

We are reaping the fruit of the industry’s cowardice. For more than a year, most major media companies have stood by or aggressively acquiesced as President Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr pressured them through lawsuits and baseless investigations. Radio coverage of ICE raids? Investigated. A comedian’s joke? Investigated. Fair hiring for people of color? Reframed as racist. CBS installed a monitor. ABC paid out a settlement to the President. Nexstar and Sinclair pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air on their local stations.

Top Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr condemning his ongoing attempts to chill speech and weaponize the agency against any criticism of President Trump—including Chairman Carr’s recent, unprecedented order requiring that Disney and its eight broadcast stations file to renew their licenses early, years ahead of their original schedule.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s newest fight with Disney is starting to raise alarms among some members of the GOP and on K Street—though many Republicans appear ready to give him a pass.

The Federal Communications Commission ordered a review of all station licenses owned by ABC, an extraordinary move to pressure a major television network whose programming has frequently angered President Trump. The FCC said that the action was related to an investigation into ABC’s diversity and inclusion policies.