U.S. State Department to Employ AI Technology for Identifying University Students with Pro-Hamas Sympathies for Potential Deportation
The U.S. State Department is set to launch a controversial program called "Catch and Revoke" on October 7, 2023. The initiative aims to scan news reports and social media accounts of students on visas for pro-Palestinian and Hamas sympathies.
The program will utilise AI systems to crawl through footage and news reports of protests, as well as the social media accounts of 100,000 people in the Student Exchange Visitor System. However, concerns have been raised about the potential biases of these AI systems, which may provide users with answers that align with their preconceived notions rather than an objective view of the data.
The use of AI in this context has sparked debates about free speech and free expression, with critics arguing that it constitutes an attack on these fundamental rights. Experts from the Electronic Frontier Foundation have expressed concerns that the program may be overbroad and could potentially be used to silence critics.
This isn't the first time that AI has been employed by the Trump administration. Reports suggest that the administration has used AI to search through federal databases in an effort to cut spending and identify individuals for potential termination.
Trump has also been vocal about his support for the "Take it Down Act," a bill aimed at punishing people who post revenge porn and AI deep fakes. During a speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump touted the bill, expressing his intentions to use it to silence his critics.
However, many of Trump's executive orders and proposed actions on combating domestic terror threats and fighting antisemitism have been criticised for being overbroad. One of his early executive orders did not narrowly define what hateful ideology is, raising questions about its potential impact and applicability.
The identity of the unknown State Department employee who leaked information about the "Catch and Revoke" program to Axios has not been publicly disclosed. Axios reported the story after talking to unnamed officials in the State Department.
Meanwhile, Israel has used AI to help it pick targets and sort through data during a war, leading some members of the Israeli military to voice concerns about potential increases in civilian casualties. It is worth noting that large language models are effective at collecting data but are less reliable when it comes to sorting it.
AI systems are also prone to hallucinations and false positives, further fuelling concerns about their use in such sensitive contexts. The goal of the "Catch and Revoke" program is to find individuals who faced punishment during the Trump administration for anti-Israel activities on college campuses.
As the program approaches its launch date, debates about its implications for free speech, civil liberties, and the role of AI in government decision-making continue to intensify.
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