Free Speech and Artificial Intelligence
Computers and SocietyArtificial Intelligence
Summary
The authors explore how two types of AI — social media recommendation algorithms and conversational chatbots — affect freedom of expression. They explain that social media algorithms decide what posts people see, which influences public speech. Then they discuss whether chatbots themselves should have speech rights and how users' right to information affects chatbot rules. The paper also questions if social media companies or AI creators have their own speech rights. Overall, the authors aim to raise important questions rather than provide final answers.
freedom of expressionsocial media recommendation algorithmsconversational AIlarge language modelsspeech rightsdigital public spherecorporate speechchatbot regulationphilosophy of free speech
Authors
Etienne Brown
Abstract
Philosophers and legal scholars are engaged in debates about the implications of artificial intelligence for freedom of expression. This paper analyzes the free speech issues raised by two distinct AI technologies: social media recommendation algorithms and conversational AI (i.e., chatbots powered by large language models). The first part shows that, through their recommendation algorithms, social media platforms control the dynamics of speech visibility in the digital public sphere, making algorithmic recommendation relevant to the philosophy of free speech. The second part turns to conversational AI. It discusses both the reasons for granting or withholding speech rights to artificial agents and users' right to receive information, which may render specific forms of chatbot regulation illegitimate. Throughout, the chapter also considers whether social media platforms or AI developers hold corporate speech rights. Its general aim is to raise rather than settle questions that arise from the rapid development of AI technologies.