The rapid rise of artificial intelligence, and government efforts to harness and regulate the power of that emerging technology, pose both a promise and a threat to the future of human civilization and free society.

President Joe Biden recently issued a major executive order on the use of AI but former President Donald Trump just vowed to overturn that EO if re-elected to a second term in 2024, the Washington Examiner reported.

Trump shares a legitimate concern with many other Americans that the federal government will illegally and unconstitutionally utilize AI to engage in censorship of free speech -- and there is already evidence of such illicit behavior that bolsters and justifies that particular concern.

Biden's order on development and usage of AI

On Oct. 30, President Biden issued a sweeping executive order that ostensibly "establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, advances equity and civil rights, stands up for consumers and workers, promotes innovation and competition, advances American leadership around the world, and more."

While some have praised that move as necessary to create guardrails for the safe development and usage of AI, others have sharply criticized it as a federal overreach and threat to cherished freedoms, according to the Examiner.

That criticism is not unfounded, as reports indicate that U.S. taxpayer dollars have been spent in support of a United Nations-backed pilot program known as iVerify that uses AI to help "fact checkers" identify and combat so-called "hate speech" and "misinformation" on social media in developing nations around the globe, and has already been rolled out in several African nations.

Fox News reported that Republicans, led by Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA), have introduced legislation to halt the U.S. funding of iVerify in light of the threat that it poses to constitutionally protected free speech. Cline told the outlet, "The United Nations Development Programme’s iVerify tool is something straight out of Orwell’s '1984,' using AI to help label, suppress, and censor speech online at the expense of American tax dollars," and added, "That’s wrong and goes against the very principles enshrined in the First Amendment. We must prevent taxpayer dollars from playing any part in censorship on a global scale, and my bill will do just that."

Biden's DHS already developing and using AI-powered tools

It isn't just the U.N.'s use of AI to target free speech for censorship that has prompted concern either, as Axios reported that Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas recently revealed that his DHS has gone into "hyper-drive" to develop its own AI-powered tools for law enforcement and national security purposes.

"We are on a right path of a private-public partnership," Mayorkas said this week at an AI conference. "In my discussions with companies that are in the business of the development of AI and its advancement, I have certainly seen quite immediately a social consciousness -- an understanding of its potential to do great, an understanding of the risks involved, and a very significant desire to advance one and to manage the other."

As for those who have expressed concerns over the potential for governmental misuse and abuse of AI, the secretary dismissed those critiques as partisan and uninformed and declared, "The politicization of some of our core security responsibilities is extraordinarily worrisome. When I speak of digital literacy, I speak of some very fundamental education programs and that requires a collective action."

Trump vows to "cancel" Biden's AI executive order

On Saturday, according to RSBN, former President Trump spoke at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and, among other things, referenced Sec. Mayorkas' remarks as he promised to overturn President Biden's executive order on AI.

"Just this week, Biden’s Homeland Security secretary even admitted that they are weaponizing Artificial Intelligence to target American citizens for political speech. Did you hear that? He admitted it! Well, at least he was honest," Trump said. "When I am reelected, I will cancel Biden’s Artificial Intelligence Executive Order and ban the use of AI to censor the speech of American citizens on day one."

“When I’m re-elected, I will cancel Biden’s artificial intelligence executive order, and BAN the use of AI to censor the speech of American citizens on DAY ONE.” — President Trump in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Watch LIVE: https://t.co/vZtnDeRT9d pic.twitter.com/SEkrQApQD4

— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) December 2, 2023

"This campaign is a righteous crusade to liberate our republic from Biden and the criminals. They want to control your speech. They want to control your social media. They want to control what car you drive … they want to change everything. These people are sick," Trump warned at another point in his speech. "And I promise you this: if you put me back in the White House, their reign will be over, and America will be a FREE NATION once again."