Jane Bambauer, Brechner Eminent Scholar and the director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is the cohost of “Free Speech Unmuted” with Hoover Institution fellow Eugene Volokh, one of the foremost U.S. experts on the First Amendment and free speech. Their first episode, “Book Bans – Or Are They?,” posted on Feb. 22.

Bambauer and Volokh ask if public school libraries are violating the First Amendment if they remove books based on the views expressed in them and also ask if the librarians stocking the shelves have a political agenda? They agree that is all comes down to a precedent called Pico, based on the 1982 case Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 vs. Pico which addressed the removal of books from public school libraries. However, they disagree about which Supreme Court justices got the rule right.

The Hoover Institution is dedicated to generating policy ideas that seek to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peach for America and all mankind. The podcast will feature the duo talking about current free speech controversies.

In addition, Bambauer’s article, “Negligent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Speech: Some Thought About Duty” published in the Journal of Free Speech Law 2023, was reviewed in Technology Law JOTWELL (The Journal of Things We Like Lots) on Feb. 6.

In the article, Bambauer addresses illegal AI-generated speech that is or should be unprotected by the First Amendment, even it First Amendment coverage extends to AI-generated content.

According to the review, “Bambauer talks about speech that physically hurts people, a category around which courts have been conducting free-speech line-drawing for decades. Bambauer addresses duties of care that might arise when AI misrepresentations result in physical harm to a user or third parties. Bambauer convincingly claims that the duty element of negligence is where the rubber will hit the road in state courts when it comes to determining the right balance between preventing physical harms and protecting free speech values. Throughout, this article is logical, clearly organized, factually grounded, and neatly coherent, even where a reader might depart from its substantive claims.”

Posted: February 26, 2024
Category: AI at CJC News, Brechner Center, College News
Tagged as: Book Bans, Brechner Eminent Scholar, Free Speech Unmute Podcast, Jane Bambauer, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, Negligent AI