MRC’s Vice President for Free Speech pushed back against the alarmist narrative surrounding artificial intelligence, rejecting claims that AI will devastate American workers while warning that Big Tech’s censorship obsession remains a serious threat.
Appearing on Fox & Friends on Dec. 30, VP Dan Schneider argued that AI is far more likely to boost productivity and strengthen the U.S. job market than to trigger the mass layoffs predicted by left-wing doomsayers. However, he cautioned that many AI systems have already proven themselves “excellent at censoring conservatives,” underscoring the urgent need to rein in ideological bias if the country is to experience a genuine AI Renaissance.
Schneider firstly addressed the ominous predictions of Jeffrey Hinton, the so-called “godfather of AI,” who has spent years predicting imminent mass job loss. According to Schneider, Hinton’s perspective is an unnecessarily fatalistic view. “Instead, we're going to see AI empower people to create more value and we're going to get more valuable to our employers, not less valuable,” he argued. While “job disruption” will occur, Schneider said it will mostly look like workers learning new skills using AI.
Schneider maintained, “Things are changing, but this is going to be ultimately good for the American job sector.” Indeed, he noted, “90% of employers in America today already use AI. If you and I are not learning how to use AI, that'll be to our deficit.” Ultimately, he assured viewers, “It's not that your whole job will change, it’s that you'll become more productive.”
Americans can learn how to use AI by teaching themselves, by taking classes, or even by asking different AI tools for instructions, Schneider declared, noting that “different AI programs are better than others at different things.” With a note of caution, Schneider added, “some are excellent at censoring conservatives. That's one of the areas that I fight against, trying to prevent AI from controlling us. Instead, we need to use AI to increase our value.”
Schneider concluded by denying that AI will automatically enrich the already wealthy who invest in it to the exclusion of others, because “every company is going to do better with AI. I wouldn't focus on trying to invest in AI companies themselves, but in all the companies that use AI. Those are the companies that are really going to increase the market value,” he stated.
Schneider also noted that AI job disruptions will likely not usher in a universal basic income. He explained that this is “partly because Donald Trump was elected president. He has completely changed the AI lexicon. What the Biden administration was doing [were] all the wrong moves, the Trump administration is doing great stuff.”
Donald Trump recently announced his “one rulebook” for AI to prevent overregulation from slowing innovation, while also requiring AI to dewokify. AI czar David Sacks touted it as the path to beating China in the AI race. Likewise, Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed to TIME that AI is the administration’s top scientific priority.
Free speech is under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
