WEBVTT
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The Bogosity Podcast,
early and ad-free!
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Become a subscriber at Patreon,
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Welcome to the Bogosity Podcast
for the week of March 15 2026,
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the podcast that wakes
you up before you go-go.
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This is your host, Shane Killian.
Let's stylize the News of the Bogus.
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This is one from the annals
of unintended consequences:
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Trying to detect and punish students for
using AI is pushing them towards using AI!
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The main reason is that these
AI detectors really don't work.
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As we covered in the past, despite
claims of being over 95% accurate,
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independent analyses have shown
they're little better than flipping a coin.
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As someone who has a daughter who
was falsely accused of this in school,
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I can tell you the grief, distress, and
anxiety it can cause a young person
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who's put a ton of work
into her creative writing.
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What's causing a problem is that AIs are trained
on quality human writing and tuned to write well.
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Why is that a problem? Because students who write well
are much more likely to get flagged as having used AI!
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False positives can happen when using higher-end phrases
such as "devoid of" or "lacking" instead of just "without."
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And don't even get me started on the em dash—which
is something every student should learn how to use!
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And yet, they're now considered to be a huge
indication that something is written by an AI.
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Why? Because the best writers and editors
use the em dash, so the AIs do, too!
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You can have my em dashes when you
pry them from my cold dead fingers!
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And if you're using space-hyphen-space instead,
you're a bad person and you should feel bad!
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All right, typographic
punctiliousness aside,
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it's bad that students are now being encouraged to dumb down
their writing lest they face a false accusation of using AI.
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Dadland Maye wrote about just this in an excellent
piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education,
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and it's even worse
than what I've said.
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Because this anti-AI backlash is actually encouraging
students who have never used AI before to start using it!
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Quote: "This fall, a student told
me she began using generative AI
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only after learning that stylistic features such
as em dashes were rumored to trigger AI detectors.
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To protect herself from being flagged, she started running
her writing through AI tools to see how it would register."
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Yes, she was using it defensively, to try
and avoid a false accusation of cheating!
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Quote: "In 2023, researchers
at Stanford University
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warned that detection tools were biased
against nonnative English writers.
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Their study, published in Patterns, found
that detectors misclassified more than half of
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essays written by nonnative speakers as AI-generated,
while nearly all essays by native speakers passed.
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The authors anticipated that such bias could
encourage defensive or evasive behavior.
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Two years later, that prediction is
taking shape in my writing classrooms,
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extending even to native English speakers whose
polished prose has begun to feel suspect."
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So, foreigners are more likely to be flagged because their
grammar and vocabulary is superior to native speakers.
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George Bernard Shaw would find that hilarious;
the students who were actually accused? Not so much.
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This actually represses
their writing skills. Quote:
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"Students learn that style can count against them,
and that fluency invites suspicion.
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In that environment,
AI becomes a way to smooth uncertainty.
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It offers reassurance that language
will appear ordinary enough to pass.
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This is a subtle shift
with real consequences.
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Writing begins to function as a source
of risk rather than evidence of learning.
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Students adapt accordingly. They seek tools
that reduce exposure and normalize tone.
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Over time, detection begins shaping student
behavior in ways that resemble instruction,
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even when no explicit
guidance is given."
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And the ultimate result from all
of this is that everyone's writing
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will be just as dull and ordinary as
the lowest common denominator.
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This is the big problem when you have teachers
who want a shiny thing to do their jobs for them
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instead of actually
teaching students.
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Maye wrote about students who had been praised for years for
their writing skills who are now made to feel like cheaters,
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because the AI detection tools
think that quality writing means AI.
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And the result is that many students end
up subscribing to multiple AI services
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to learn how the detection systems work—not because they
want to cheat, but because they need to defend themselves
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from fraudulent tools by unscrupulous
companies implemented by lazy teachers.
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This has always been the fundamental
problem with the way schools police cheating.
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To try and stop the cheaters,
they look for shortcuts.
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Personal story: I was taking an exam and just looked
around the lecture hall as I thought about what to write.
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That's just how I've
always needed to do it.
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When I look at the page the whole time, I get
tunnel vision and everything goes purple.
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But I absolutely was not looking at
any of the other students' papers,
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not even looking in a direction that
I could be mistaken for doing so—
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on purpose,
to avoid a false accusation of cheating.
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And then the professor came
up to me and angrily told me
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to keep my eyes on my own
paper or I'd fail the course.
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I promptly dropped the course and
issued a complaint against the professor.
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Nothing happened, of course.
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Because sadly, this sort of shortcutting has
been typical of how professors operate—
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which is ironic,
because if you think about it,
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that's exactly the sort of shortcut they
call "cheating" when done by a student!
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And it wouldn't be so bad if there were
any sort of consistency or predictability.
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But like always, there's no continuity
between policies in different classrooms—
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and the usual failure of professors to
understand just how much students work.
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Quote: "Many students
work 20 to 40 hours a week.
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Many are multilingual. They encounter a
different AI policy in nearly every course.
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When one professor bans AI entirely
and another encourages its use,
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students learn to stay quiet
rather than risk a misstep.
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The burden of inconsistency falls on them, and it takes
a concrete form: time, revision, and self-surveillance.
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One student described spending hours rephrasing
sentences that detectors flagged as AI-generated
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even though every word was original. 'I revise and
revise,' the student said. 'It takes too much time.'"
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If you're a teacher or professor,
consider doing what Maye did, quote:
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"I stopped requiring students
to disclose their AI use.
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My syllabi had asked for transparency, yet
the expectation had become incoherent.
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The boundary between using AI and navigating
the internet had blurred beyond recognition.
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Asking students to document every
encounter with the technology
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would have turned writing
into an accounting exercise.
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I shifted my approach. I told students they
could use AI for research and outlining,
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while drafting had
to remain their own.
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I taught them how to prompt responsibly and how to
recognize when a tool began replacing their thinking."
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In other words, what teachers
should have been doing all along.
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And the results? Quote:
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"The atmosphere in my
classroom changed.
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Students approached me after class
to ask how to use these tools well.
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One wanted to know how to prompt
for research without copying output.
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Another asked how to tell when a
summary drifted too far from its source.
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These conversations were
pedagogical in nature.
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They became possible only after AI use
stopped functioning as a disclosure problem
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and began functioning as
a subject of instruction."
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Amazing how that happens when your attitude to
cheating stops being "guilty until proven innocent."
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Education is not about policing.
It never should have been.
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Teach students how to
write and think critically,
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teach them when tools are helpful
and when they become a crutch,
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and above all, for the love of all that is rational,
stop using shiny things to do your job for you!
00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.960
Presenting: the greatest
game this side of Yuggoth!
00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:49.640
You are H.P.
Lovecraft's cat, and your name is Ni***
00:09:49.640 --> 00:09:52.360
...Right.
We can't say that on a podcast.
00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:55.560
Anyway,
that's the point: Your name is a joke.
00:09:55.560 --> 00:10:02.520
So now, you are out for revenge.
You become...the NecronomiCat!
00:10:02.520 --> 00:10:06.760
Using the Necronomicon,
you come to the present day to buy a gat.
00:10:06.760 --> 00:10:08.920
That's a gun. For a cat.
00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:10.600
It's a phat cat gat.
00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:15.560
But the Necronomicon is treacherous,
and it let in Lovecraft's monsters.
00:10:15.560 --> 00:10:19.240
Now, in a crumbling world,
you must fight!
00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.640
Build your team, buy guns and armor,
00:10:21.640 --> 00:10:26.200
buy items of dubious legality,
defeat the bosses of each level.
00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:29.640
Then take Lovecraft down!
00:10:29.640 --> 00:10:35.720
Play NecronomiCat!
The link is at cat.bogosity.tv.
00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:40.360
Yeah, we're doing cat.bogosity.tv,
not...that other one.
00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:43.115
What, you want me to get kicked
off the Internet or something?
00:10:48.280 --> 00:10:53.000
I know, that was a long segment,
and so is this one, so be prepared.
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This is why there are only two News of the Bogus
stories this week instead of the usual three.
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But it's worth taking
the time to go over it.
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Because we're at another point where we're going to
learn if our every move will be surveilled by government,
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absent any sort of warrant
or probable cause.
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Senator Ron Wyden went off about the bipartisan support
for Trump's nominee Joshua Rudd to lead the NSA,
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just ahead of the deadline
to reauthorize Section 702.
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WYDEN: During his hearing, General Rudd failed
to demonstrate a bare minimum understanding
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of the constitutional
limits on NSA activities.
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His responses to questions about privacy
rights and transparency were deeply troubling.
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KILLIAN: Of course, ask any member of Congress about
the Constitution and they'll fail just as badly.
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WYDEN: Yet the President keeps nominating
officials to key cybersecurity roles
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who have less knowledge of the topic than
an undergraduate computer science major.
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KILLIAN: Long-time listeners know that that's
sadly very typical of nominees from either party.
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Wyden, a sitting member of
the Intelligence Committee,
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is once again sounding the
alarm bells about Section 702.
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He's tried to oppose the
reauthorization every time it's come up,
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but Democrat or Republican,
the president always got his way.
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WYDEN: These three issues will
be before Senators very shortly.
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They are Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, surveillance of Americans by ICE,
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and the dangerous ways that artificial intelligence
can be used to surveil American citizens.
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KILLIAN: Since he has access to classified
materials, he can't tell us everything he knows.
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He was very coy about
what the NSA was doing,
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warning that the government was secretly interpreting
the PATRIOT Act in ways Congress never intended.
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Nobody believed it could be as bad as he was
saying—until Edward Snowden revealed it all.
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But despite the revelations,
the pattern keeps repeating itself.
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WYDEN: Opponents of reforming
Section 702 don't want a real debate
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where members can decide for themselves
which reform amendments to support.
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So what happens is,
there's an inadequate bill that's brought up,
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magically shows up a few days before the
authorization expires, and members are told,
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"Holy Toledo! There's just no time to
do anything except pass that bill."
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KILLIAN: Yes, it's the old "we have to
pass it to find out what's in it!" tactic.
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It wasn't just Obamacare, people.
They pull that crap all the time.
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Yet another example of why
we need the Read the Bills Act!
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Rand Paul proposes it every term.
Congress wants nothing to do with it.
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As for Section 702:
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WYDEN: It authorizes a
warrantless surveillance program.
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The FISA Court approves the overall program,
but it doesn't review the individual targets.
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In many cases, these will be law-abiding Americans
having perfectly legitimate conversations.
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We don't know exactly how many
Americans' communications are swept up
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by what the government
calls "incidental collection."
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That's because the
government refuses to tell us.
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But we know it's large.
We know it's increasing.
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The best way to protect the rights of Americans is
to ensure the government can't conduct searches
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for Americans' private conversations
in all that 702 data without a warrant.
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KILLIAN: We always get the copsuckers
whining about things like this,
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that cops won't be able to get what
they need to catch the bad guys.
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But they always have the proper constitutional procedure
available to them: get a warrant! It's not hard!
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If anything, complaints around
the country, federal and state,
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are about how easily and dismissively
judges hand out warrants.
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WYDEN: For years, there's been jaw-dropping abuse of these
searches. And that's been done especially by the FBI.
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And I especially want to point to a new provision
of 702 that urgently needs to be repealed.
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Two years ago, during the last reauthorization
debacle, something really bad happened.
00:15:15.160 --> 00:15:18.649
Over in the House, existing
surveillance law was changed
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so that the government could force
anybody with access to communications
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to secretly collect those
communications for the government.
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As I pointed out at the time, that could mean
anybody installing or repairing a cable box,
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anybody who was
responsible for a Wi-Fi router.
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It was a jaw-dropping expansion of authorities that
could end up forcing countless ordinary Americans
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to secretly help the government
spy on their fellow citizens.
00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:52.173
This was such a dramatic and
disturbing expansion of Section 702
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that the Biden Justice Department had to promise it would
only use these authorities in certain narrow situations.
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The Biden administration refused to tell the public when
it would use this dangerous, incredibly broad provision.
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The Trump administration certainly
isn't providing any details about it.
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So Congress isn't having a real informed
debate about this staggering provision
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and whether this vast and dangerous
expansion of surveillance is justified.
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KILLIAN: You'd think that if anyone,
00:16:22.548 --> 00:16:28.040
the Republican members of Congress who
were illegally surveilled by Biden's NSA,
00:16:28.040 --> 00:16:34.200
particularly leading up to the election, would
be the first to call for at least a debate!
00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:39.800
WYDEN: The past 15 years have shown that unless
the Congress has an open debate about surveillance,
00:16:39.800 --> 00:16:45.400
the laws that are passed cannot be assumed
to have the support of the American people.
00:16:45.400 --> 00:16:47.560
That's fundamentally wrong.
00:16:47.560 --> 00:16:54.200
And right now the government is relying on
secret law with regard to Section 702 of FISA.
00:16:54.200 --> 00:17:01.080
Americans have the right to be confused and angry that this
is how the government and Congress choose to do business.
00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:05.702
Now there's another example of
secret law related to Section 702
00:17:05.703 --> 00:17:09.480
and it affects the privacy
rights of the American people.
00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:15.880
For years I've asked various administrations
to declassify it. Thus far they've all refused.
00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:21.591
I strongly believe this matter should be declassified
and that Congress needs to debate it openly
00:17:21.592 --> 00:17:24.520
before 702 is reauthorized.
00:17:24.520 --> 00:17:29.898
The fact is, when it's eventually declassified,
the American people are going to be stunned
00:17:29.899 --> 00:17:35.920
that it took so long and that Congress has been
debating this authority with insufficient information.
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:44.076
KILLIAN: In reality, this has just gotten worse under
Trump II with ICE and CBP terrorizing neighborhoods
00:17:44.077 --> 00:17:49.854
and arresting even American citizens
without warrant or probable cause.
00:17:49.854 --> 00:17:55.560
WYDEN: For example, our bipartisan reform bill
takes on an issue I've been working on for years.
00:17:55.560 --> 00:18:00.938
It's the government's purchase of private
information on the American people
00:18:00.939 --> 00:18:07.720
from one of the sleaziest industries in America,
which is the one run by the data brokers.
00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:11.960
Both ICE and CBP have purchased
and used Americans' location data,
00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:16.600
highly sensitive information that can
reveal what medical clinics you go to,
00:18:16.600 --> 00:18:21.000
what protests you're involved with,
and the friends and family you see.
00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:25.640
The agencies have made various arguments
to justify collecting these records,
00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:32.760
including the false assertion that all Americans
actually consented to location data being collected.
00:18:32.760 --> 00:18:39.249
I want to emphasize that the government in these cases
bought records of millions of Americans' movements
00:18:39.250 --> 00:18:43.138
without any warrant or
court oversight whatsoever.
00:18:43.138 --> 00:18:49.880
KILLIAN: And that can even go so far as to surveil
everything you're doing with your phone at any given time,
00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:55.369
which nowadays is where people put their
most private information, their medical data,
00:18:55.370 --> 00:19:01.257
their personal conversations, their mental health
issues, their private thoughts and concerns.
00:19:01.257 --> 00:19:04.440
WYDEN: It's almost equivalent
to spying on your thoughts.
00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:09.080
That's what happens when the government
gets together with these sleazy data brokers.
00:19:09.080 --> 00:19:12.760
KILLIAN: Wyden mentions the
story we talked about last week,
00:19:12.760 --> 00:19:17.062
with Anthropic refusing to do business
with the DoJ and the Pentagon
00:19:17.062 --> 00:19:20.280
unless there were safeguards
against domestic spying.
00:19:20.280 --> 00:19:25.662
WYDEN: As my colleagues are aware, the Trump
administration decided to single out one company
00:19:25.663 --> 00:19:30.662
over the weekend for punishment because the
company didn't want its artificial intelligence
00:19:30.663 --> 00:19:33.480
tool used for mass
surveillance of Americans.
00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:37.960
The company's CEO said that if the
government's purchase of Americans' location,
00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:41.080
web browsing,
and other sensitive data is currently legal,
00:19:41.080 --> 00:19:46.813
it's only because the law has not yet caught
up with the rapidly growing capabilities of AI.
00:19:46.813 --> 00:19:51.102
KILLIAN: As we covered, OpenAI
was happy to step in with safeguards
00:19:51.103 --> 00:19:55.840
that were couched in such precatory
wording that they can be easily sidestepped.
00:19:55.840 --> 00:20:00.859
WYDEN: We're considering a
nominee to be the director of the NSA
00:20:00.860 --> 00:20:06.840
who refused to answer whether the government needs
a warrant to spy on people in the United States.
00:20:06.840 --> 00:20:13.800
He would not commit to maintaining the NSA's policy
of not purchasing location data without a warrant.
00:20:13.800 --> 00:20:19.244
He wouldn't commit to telling the American people
if the NSA violates the policies and guardrails
00:20:19.245 --> 00:20:23.800
of successive administrations
that was made public.
00:20:23.800 --> 00:20:30.640
This nominee wouldn't even promise to tell the
Senate Intelligence Committee about these matters.
00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:36.440
KILLIAN: One thing is certain: however much
government is violating the Constitution,
00:20:36.440 --> 00:20:41.133
it's always to a greater amount than
appears to us from the outside.
00:20:47.080 --> 00:20:51.240
I'm Brother Ezekiel,
and I know how naughty thou hast been!
00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:54.120
So naughty, thou needst a VPN!
00:20:54.120 --> 00:21:00.680
Hide thy iniquity from prying eyes, and make
sure the liturgical authorities remain ignorant.
00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:06.360
Take thy browser to
vpn.bogosity.tv to get BoxPN.
00:21:06.360 --> 00:21:11.000
At $6.36 a month,
a price only the most penurious would balk at,
00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:15.800
thou shalt have unlimited high-speed
connections to servers all over the globe.
00:21:15.800 --> 00:21:19.880
And they don't log connections.
Thy privacy is assured.
00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:21.560
That should please you sinners!
00:21:21.560 --> 00:21:24.200
Just remember: the Lord sees all!
00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:27.480
When travelling,
make it look like thou art still home.
00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:31.560
At home,
ensure the elders at your ISP don't take out their
00:21:31.560 --> 00:21:35.640
judgement with traffic-shaping
and DMCA notices!
00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:41.480
Up to 5 devices can connect at once,
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00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:47.135
Keep thy sins private.
Go to vpn.bogosity.tv.
00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:58.680
And now it's time to transparentize
this week's Biggest Bogon Emitter.
00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:06.440
The story so far: The Trump Administration levied a bunch of
tariffs. A lot of people were worried they couldn't do that.
00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:12.440
So they promised us that if the tariffs turn
out to be illegal, they'll refund the money.
00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:18.520
Actually, I say promised...browbeat by
the court into agreeing to it is more like it.
00:22:18.520 --> 00:22:22.280
In a filing to the United States
Court of International Trade,
00:22:22.280 --> 00:22:28.040
responding to a motion for preliminary injunction to
stop the tariffs from being collected, they wrote:
00:22:28.040 --> 00:22:34.440
"Defendants do not intend to oppose the Court's authority
to order reliquidation of entries of merchandise
00:22:34.441 --> 00:22:38.173
subject to the challenged tariffs
if the tariffs are found in a
00:22:38.174 --> 00:22:42.200
final and unappealable decision
to have been unlawfully collected.
00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:49.480
Such reliquidation would result in a refund of all duties
determined to be unlawfully assessed, with interest."
00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:54.840
They lost, so they appealed and filed
for a stay. In that filing, they wrote:
00:22:54.840 --> 00:23:01.320
"For any plaintiff who is an importer, even if a stay
is entered and defendants do not prevail on appeal,
00:23:01.320 --> 00:23:06.120
plaintiffs will assuredly receive
payment on their refund with interest.
00:23:06.120 --> 00:23:13.560
There is virtually no risk to any importer that they
would not be made whole should they prevail on appeal.
00:23:13.560 --> 00:23:18.280
The most harm that could incur would
be a delay in collecting on deposits.
00:23:18.280 --> 00:23:22.200
This harm is, by definition,
not irreparable."
00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.080
They said the same thing
in multiple other cases.
00:23:25.080 --> 00:23:28.680
The courts found that this
comprises a legal estoppel,
00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:34.520
binding them from arguing against the refunds in
the future if the tariffs were found to be illegal.
00:23:34.520 --> 00:23:41.320
And in all of those cases, the DoJ assured the courts
that refunding the tariffs would be no problem.
00:23:41.320 --> 00:23:47.240
Then, the Supreme Court found 6-3
that the tariffs were, in fact, illegal.
00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:52.920
That left the government with all those tariffs
to refund, and apparently, they can't do it.
00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:58.760
Brandon Lord, Executive Director of U.S. Customs
and Border Protection's Trade Policy and Programs,
00:23:58.760 --> 00:24:00.840
said in a court filing,
quote:
00:24:00.840 --> 00:24:06.906
"CBP is not able to comply with the Court of
International Trade's order of March 4, 2026,
00:24:06.906 --> 00:24:13.261
that, with respect to any and all unliquidated
entries that were entered subject to the IEEPA duties,
00:24:13.261 --> 00:24:19.705
U.S. Customs and Border Protection must liquidate
those entries without regard to the IEEPA duties.
00:24:19.706 --> 00:24:26.128
As of March 4, 2026, the total amount of
IEEPA duties and estimated duty deposits
00:24:26.129 --> 00:24:32.760
collected pursuant to IEEPA
is approximately $166 billion.
00:24:32.760 --> 00:24:40.440
Approximately 20.1 million entries remain
unliquidated as of March 4, 2026."
00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:43.000
And that's just too much for it,
quote:
00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:51.240
"In light of the Court's March 5, 2026 amended order,
CBP is now facing an unprecedented volume of refunds.
00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:57.507
Its existing administrative procedures and technology
are not well suited to a task of this scale
00:24:57.508 --> 00:24:59.684
and will require manual work
00:24:59.685 --> 00:25:04.840
that will prevent personnel from fully carrying
out the agency's trade enforcement mission.
00:25:04.840 --> 00:25:08.262
Personnel would be redirected
from responsibilities
00:25:08.263 --> 00:25:14.040
that serve to mitigate imminent threats to
national security and economic security."
00:25:14.040 --> 00:25:21.160
He includes a ton of details, enough to give you
the idea of just how much of a Gordian knot this is.
00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:24.120
And they're not gonna be
able to simply cut through it.
00:25:24.120 --> 00:25:26.520
They did assure the court, quote:
00:25:26.520 --> 00:25:33.400
"CBP is making all possible efforts to have this
new ACE functionality ready for use in 45days.
00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:37.800
This new process will require
minimal submission from importers."
00:25:37.800 --> 00:25:41.880
But the question is,
why are they only doing this now?
00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.560
It wasn't at all a surprise
that SCOTUS shot it down,
00:25:45.560 --> 00:25:50.280
and they knew that there was at least a good
chance they'd have to do all of these refunds.
00:25:50.280 --> 00:25:53.320
And they didn't even
try to get a jump on it?
00:25:53.320 --> 00:25:59.880
Really, they should have been starting the process as soon
as they assured everyone that refunds would be no problem.
00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:07.080
That was how they narrowly avoided those injunctions,
so you'd think they'd be prepared for this eventuality.
00:26:07.080 --> 00:26:12.440
But obviously, thinking ahead isn't the
Trump Administration's strong suit.
00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:15.480
And all the while,
interest was accruing.
00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:19.000
Not only were the tariffs not
a benefit for the taxpayers,
00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:23.000
they ended up costing a
lot more than they gained!
00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:27.591
So all of that makes The Trump Administration
this week's Biggest Bogon Emitter.
00:26:34.040 --> 00:26:37.560
I want to tell you about the eyeglasses
I've been wearing for years.
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Once again,
that's firmoo.bogosity.tv.
00:27:42.120 --> 00:27:50.764
And now let's intercommunicationalizationify
this week's Idiot Extraordinaire.
00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:59.560
And it's a fourth one for Senator Josh Hawley,
who wants to stop kids from using AI.
00:27:59.560 --> 00:28:03.511
The GUARD Act is one of
those infamous backronyms;
00:28:03.512 --> 00:28:11.640
it stands for the Guidelines for User
Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act of 2025.
00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:17.720
Combine the privacy-hating age
verification with anti-AI neo-Luddism,
00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:22.360
because we have to protect the children
from the world they will grow up in.
00:28:22.360 --> 00:28:25.720
The bill would prohibit minors from accessing,
quote:
00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:32.342
"any interactive computer service or software
application that produces new expressive content
00:28:32.343 --> 00:28:38.877
or responses not fully predetermined by the
developer or operator of the service or application;
00:28:38.878 --> 00:28:43.789
and accepts open-ended
natural-language or multimodal user input
00:28:43.790 --> 00:28:47.960
and produces adaptive or
context-responsive output."
00:28:47.960 --> 00:28:53.320
In other words, Claude, ChatGPT,
Grok, Character.ai, etc.
00:28:53.320 --> 00:29:00.600
Hey, Hawley, how are you going to prevent them from
downloading ollama.exe and running them locally?
00:29:00.600 --> 00:29:05.320
Similar bills have been introduced in
Virginia, Oklahoma, and California.
00:29:05.320 --> 00:29:09.587
As Andy Jung, Associate Counsel
for TechFreedom, points out,
00:29:09.588 --> 00:29:17.400
this is instantly going to be shut down by any sensible
court as a blatant violation of the First Amendment.
00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:20.600
The Supreme Court has
previously said that, quote:
00:29:20.600 --> 00:29:24.520
"minors are entitled to a significant
measure of First Amendment protection,
00:29:24.520 --> 00:29:28.364
and only in relatively narrow
and well-defined circumstances
00:29:28.364 --> 00:29:32.760
may government bar public dissemination
of protected materials to them."
00:29:32.760 --> 00:29:40.600
And according to this very bill, this is about
chatbots that, quote: "produce new expressive content."
00:29:40.600 --> 00:29:46.760
So it is expressive content, and therefore
comprises protected expression,
00:29:46.760 --> 00:29:54.120
which applies not just to the written and spoken word,
but to pictures, music, computer code, and video games.
00:29:54.120 --> 00:29:56.627
The excuse is that, quote:
00:29:56.628 --> 00:30:02.680
"These chatbots can generate and disseminate
harmful or sexually explicit content to children."
00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:07.080
I swear, these psychos are so
obsessed with children and sexuality,
00:30:07.080 --> 00:30:10.200
maybe they're the ones
that should be banned!
00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:17.320
One criterion the courts use is whether it regulates
content-neutral speech or is content-based.
00:30:17.320 --> 00:30:21.480
If it's content-based, you're
under strict scrutiny, baby.
00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:28.440
Again, according to the bill itself, it's "new
expressive content" and it even so much as, quote:
00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:33.618
"poses a risk of soliciting, encouraging,
or inducing minors to engage in,
00:30:33.619 --> 00:30:37.400
describe, or simulate
sexually explicit conduct;
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:42.840
or create or transmit any visual
depiction of sexually explicit conduct."
00:30:42.840 --> 00:30:51.240
So we need look no further than the text of the bill
itself to see that it's content-based! It says so directly!
00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:54.360
Strict scrutiny is the
highest judicial standard,
00:30:54.360 --> 00:30:59.800
and says that the law must be narrowly tailored
to serve a crucial and necessary purpose,
00:30:59.800 --> 00:31:04.040
and that there must be no less
restrictive option available.
00:31:04.040 --> 00:31:11.000
Jung wrote: "In fact, AI companies already have
policies and features to protect minor users.
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:17.000
Because these bills aren't narrowly tailored, a court
would strike them down for violating the First Amendment.
00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:20.840
Banning minors from using
chatbots is also bad policy.
00:31:20.840 --> 00:31:26.773
Last October, California Governor Gavin Newsom
vetoed the state's proposed ban, stating,
00:31:26.773 --> 00:31:34.440
'AI is already shaping the world, and it is imperative that
adolescents learn how to safely interact with AI systems.
00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:38.329
We cannot prepare our youth for
a future where AI is ubiquitous
00:31:38.330 --> 00:31:41.506
by preventing their use
of these tools altogether.'
00:31:41.506 --> 00:31:44.760
Most U.S. teens use AI chatbots.
00:31:44.760 --> 00:31:50.120
These young users have a First Amendment
right to receive the information the AIs output,
00:31:50.120 --> 00:31:52.760
which is generally protected speech.
00:31:52.760 --> 00:31:57.480
Prohibiting access to chatbots would
violate minors' constitutional rights
00:31:57.480 --> 00:32:01.160
and deprive them of
the vast benefits of AI."
00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:04.680
The Constitution says
that minors have rights,
00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:11.720
and you don't get to turn them into non-entities
solely for the sake of your own self-aggrandizement.
00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:19.537
So all of that makes Josh Hawley
this week's Idiot Extraordinaire.
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:27.160
Well, that wraps up this "See
a broad wid dat booty at'em,
00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:30.520
leg 'er down a smack-em yak-em"
edition of the Bogosity Podcast.
00:32:30.520 --> 00:32:35.560
I hope you enjoyed it; if you did, please go to
donate.bogosity.tv for several ways to support,
00:32:35.560 --> 00:32:39.000
and discord.bogosity.tv
to join the discussion.
00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:44.120
Subscribe at the Discord, Patreon, or
SubscribeStar and you can listen early and ad-free.
00:32:44.120 --> 00:32:48.440
Thank you for listening. Until next time,
here's a quote from Benjamin Spock:
00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:55.160
"The more children learn about sexuality from talking with
their parents and teachers and reading accurate books,
00:32:55.160 --> 00:32:59.160
the less they feel compelled
to find out for themselves."
00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:03.640
The Bogosity Podcast is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
00:33:03.642 --> 00:33:05.771
4.0 International license.