Artificial Intelligence and Human Distortion
The First Amendment’s animating theory that truth emerges from free trade in ideas is based on a binary – that information is either true or false, and that ideas are either good or bad. Now that artificial intelligence is allowing information to propagate exponentially, it is time to re-evaluate that binary. Purposely selective presentations of information to manipulate people to a particular conclusion now feed artificial intelligence, which can manipulate audiences in unseen ways. Foreign actors are especially motivated to corrupt the United States information ecosystem.
Professor Erica Goldberg (Gonzaga Law) discusses the importance of how we respond to the unique harms presented by AI output. Our response will affect the future of how we create, communicate, and receive information. For this reason, it is best and least disruptive to free speech law to give AI output some First Amendment protections. This talk will provide a new typology of the ways in which information can be manipulated and apply this typology to artificial intelligence. AI should receive First Amendment protection but not as much as human-produced speech, so there will be some constitutional solutions for combatting information distortions lifted by artificial intelligence.
Professor Erica Goldberg’s research aims to harmonize civil duties with civil liberties in a non-partisan way. Her scholarship primarily focuses on the intersection of tort law remedies and First Amendment rights. Professor Goldberg teaches a variety of classes, including Torts, Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, and a seminar on the current Supreme Court term.
Prior to joining the Gonzaga Law faculty, she was a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law and an assistant professor at Ohio Northern University Law School. She also taught Legal Research and Writing as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Penn State Law School.
After graduating from Stanford Law School, Professor Goldberg clerked for Judge Ronald L. Gilman on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, practiced appellate litigation at Latham & Watkins LLP, and served as a legal fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Professor Goldberg has helped write briefs and petitions filed before several courts of appeals and the Supreme Court.
Professor Goldberg’s work has been published in the Columbia Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, Connecticut Law Review, and Michigan Law Review First Impressions. She blogs at In a Crowded Theater, and links to her blog posts have appeared in media including The Washington Post and CNN.com. In her free time, Professor Goldberg enjoys aerial arts like silks and lyra, rock climbing, running, and binge watching documentary series.