In AI We Trust: National Archives wants to use AI to rewrite history to eliminate “inherent bias” in existing government records

“As you know, the National Archive is the country’s record keeper. Given the fact that many of the permanent records of the Federal Government are inherently biased, the majority of the records were created by people in power.”

Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominating the headlines and the popular OpenAI chatbot tool has garnered over 100 million users in such a short time. However, the idea of AI has been around for several decades. The earliest work on AI can be traced back to the 1940s when researchers like Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts started developing mathematical models of neural networks.

Fast forward seven decades later, AI has permeated every facet of our lives. AI is now used in many applications including AI-powered virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant, image and speech recognition, fraud detection, medical diagnosis, and autonomous cars, among others. But the use of AI is not limited to industries. AI technology has also found its way into government institutions. US agency like the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is using AI for tax fraud detection.

The US National Archives is also exploring the use of AI to assist the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to improve what it described as an “unsophisticated search’ and create ‘self-describing records.” That’s not all. The agency is going a step further in its use of AI.

As US Congressman Thomas Massie noted, the “Chief Innovation Officer of the National Archives talks about using Artificial Intelligence to rewrite history to eliminate the “inherent bias” in the existing records.”

Chilling: Chief Innovation Officer of the National Archives talks about using Artificial Intelligence to rewrite history to eliminate the “inherent bias” in the existing records. #orwellwasright https://t.co/JyfXrKiOqC

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 5, 2023

During an AI/ML Virtual Information Information Day event that took place on April 8, 2021, the Chief Innovation Officer of the National Archives said:

“As you know, the National Archive is the country’s record keeper. Given the fact that many of the permanent records of the Federal Government are inherently biased, the majority of the records were created by people in power.”

You can watch the entire video below.