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Judge in Charlie Kirk murder case expected to release opinion on Wednesday
Jenna Ellis: I love talking about the things of God. Because of truth and the biblical worldview. The U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect the rights that our founders recognize come from God our creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raised up each of you and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time. This is Jenna Ellis in the morning.
Jenna Ellis: Good morning. It is Tuesday, September 1st and that means that we anticipate that the judge in the Charlie Kirk, murder case is going to release, his opinion on whether or not Tyler Robinson, who of course is accused of murdering Charlie Kirk last year on September 10, will face the aggravated, mansion, aggravated murder charges that he is facing and whether or not those are bound over to the court for trial. So after that preliminary hearing a couple of months ago. So we are staying tuned on the live program for that decision that is anticipated sometime today.
The administration shut down hundreds of driving schools granting licenses to illegal immigrants
Meanwhile, yesterday the Trump administration announced that it's shutting down 270 driving schools in a fraud crackdown. The administration shut down hundreds of driving schools granting licenses to illegal immigrants. And this is what Transportation Secretary Shawn Duffy had to say. Announcing the move alongside Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin. This is cut to really quick.
Sean Duffy: I want to talk about how we, how we got here. The last administration let millions of illegals into the country. Now when those legals came in, oftentimes our data on those individuals started on their point of entry. We couldn't go back and look at their their, their, their countries of origin. We couldn't see their criminal records, we can't see their driving records. We basically have zero information about who these people are. And we took them from point of entry to today, in regard to their criminal histories or their driving records. on top of that the last administration did away with our long standing safety rules that make sure we get well qualified drivers driving big rigs, motor vehicles, and then the last administration allowed truck driving schools to self certify to say that they meet all of the federal standards to be a certified truck driving school. And what we found is many of those schools actually meet that standard. And then we had tens of thousands of illegal ah, driver's licenses issued across the state. and it's brought us to a problem where many of you have covered or you've watched on social media, a number of American families whose lives have been ruined, they've lost a loved one.
Jenna Ellis: So the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief said that each of these 110 greatest offenders that, that are being shut down past at least 10 drivers who were subsequently cited for English language proficiency, during roadside inspections by law enforcement. And he went on to cite multiple examples where drivers who were illegally granted licenses killed people in crashes while on the job. And so he said it's unacceptable when you see people die on the road. You don't forget that. And it starts right here, what with what I am talking about. Our investigators went into 400 driver training schools and we found that 40% of these that we investigated did not meet the rules and requirements of our ah, regulators. And so Mullin added that illegal immigrants with commercial driver's licenses have been a major factor in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, saying that ICE found over 100 individuals who had been granted these CDLs. And literally on the CDL it said no name given, so just so much fraud. So let's welcome in ah, tho Bishop who is with the Mises Institute. And though this is very extensive, very ah, deep, it goes to a lot of these schools. and obviously the Secretary, the Transportation Secretary as well said that the, the requirement of speaking English so that you can actually read the signs on the road and know what you're doing isn't a rule that the Trump administration administration created. It's been in place for, for a while. So is this the fault of the schools that are granting these licenses, or the DMV in the states? Or where is the actual fraud being originated here?
Tho Bishop : I think, I think in this case it's all the above. But I think it really goes to a deeper m more systemic issue which is the double standard, a federal policy, the design. Whenever you, you have a desired outcome, there are things in the margin, be they explicit rule changes or simply looking the other way, allowing for certain outcomes, you know, promoting it. And that's what we've had in this country for a very long Time is a bias often in favor of immigrants over competency and other dynamics that create a very systemically fraudulent dynamic that allows for this sort of very broad issue pop up, you know, particularly in an industry which has such a major public safety, safety dynamic for it. So I don't think it's one single cause obviously it was simply, a specific school, lying about its certification dynamics. that'd be one issue. When it's something as this broad, I think it really goes to, again, just a implicit desire, in favor of, oh, well, we want more immigrants, therefore we're going to. No one's illegal, therefore we will create an environment to make it as easy as possible to get trucking licenses. I think that there is something more systemic than a single actor here in the great chain of, the CDL certification process.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, I mean, how does fraud on this scale exist without regulators catching it much sooner? I mean, this isn't just, you know, one or two isolated incidents that, you know, investigators are looking at after the fact. If there, you know, is some kind of accident or, you know, when they go to renew their cdl. I mean, how is this kind of. It seems like this is basically a, A very broad and deep scheme.
Tho Bishop : that's exactly right. And I think that this goes to. Again, there's a lot of facades with how we think about, federal government at a variety of levels. Right. You know, we have this notion of, of ah, political neutrality. We have this notion of various levels of enforcement to create checks and balances. We have this notion of a variety of things which sound great on paper, but in reality, in practice, there's always a political component to everything Washington does, be it from, be it the courts, be it the regulatory bodies and everything. This is an inherent part. And so you can have something on paper in terms of certifications or accountability or these different processes. If the explicit desire or if the implicit desire is aligned with an agenda, then they're going to find ways to create loopholes to create, you know, to not look here, not look there. and again, I guess it goes to something deeper than this. But I think this is a very explicit example. I mean, unfortunately, it's an explicit example that's killed many people through, people that shouldn't be driving big rigs on very populated roads. But, it really goes to, I think, a deeper illustration of how things really have worked in this country. And I think that's precisely that frustration, you know, that, that. That engage the rise of Trump, Trump's two presidencies. It goes to the, the growing distrust of institutions more broadly. It goes to, you know, a number of factors here, and it's because Washington as it actually operates is not the way that it is supposed to on paper. and this is one of the more severe examples of that.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And, you know, according to the data that was reported by the Wallnua Street Journal, There are roughly 200,000 immigrant CDL holders in the country. And now more than 20 states are fighting the administration's effort, which is insane in my opinion. I mean that's just ridiculous that you wouldn't want to get these drivers off the road. But they're fighting, the Trump administration's effort to obtain nationwide, CDL data, citing privacy and federalism concern. And commercial licensing has traditionally involved both a, state and federal authority. So where exactly should the line be between a state's power to issue a cdl, but also you have to fall in line with the federal government's and even the state's own regulations and responsibility to make sure that especially interstate commercial drivers meet federal safety requirements. Because we saw even here in Florida, with the example of, you know, that one just horrible, accident last year with a truck driver I think was from California who'd been issued a cdl, but obviously, you know, made his way to Florida. So this isn't just, you know, the state having the consequences within the state, which they still are under an obligation to protect their own citizens. But, you know, this is a nationwide problem if even one state is not cooperating, much less now, you know, 20, blue states that are resisting this kind of oversight. You're absolutely correct.
Tho Bishop : I am by nature reflexively, very much a federalist of states rights, sort of person when it comes to what is the best way of solving many of these problems. The issue is that in a situation like this, Florida can't ban California CDL drivers for a variety of reasons in entering Florida. So there is not a mechanism there to regulate against the consequences are to try to mitigate the consequences of abuses at other states, there. And so therefore, you know, having a broader, more national approach to it is, is the more practical approach there. and again, I remember vividly the Florida example here. and again it goes to, you know, the amount of influence pockets of the country can have, be it from a lack of proper regulatory oversight when it comes to, in this case, CDL licenses or even examples going the other way, surprise, surprise. California often being the largest Problem with it. But it's California having particularly burdensome various levels of regulation. It's an example of one state in California often being a leader there that can create a quasi standard both higher and lower for the rest of the country. which is an interesting thing about this. But again, it goes again how system actually works in practice rather than what we've told.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, and I'm with you. I mean I am a federalist as well. I mean I, I want more of the power returned to the states, to local governments. they're the strongest to enforce that close to the people. And you know, this is why we have the 50 different laboratories of democracy, you know, as they say. But there are some things that obviously the federal government, needs to regulate because they touch and concern all states. And you can't have a different rule in one state versus another state because it affects them. It might affect, you know, things like interstate commerce. That's a whole other conversation about how the interstate commerce clause has gotten, you know, so expanded to give the federal government more power than it should. But on, you know, on some things, like this, that, that genuinely there needs to be a rule. I mean it would be the same thing as if the FAA weren't in control of, you know, all of the airspace and each of the states have different roles or you know, pilots weren't, required to speak English, you know, in order to fly between the states.
Will Bishop says the Trump administration is cracking down on fraudulent drivers
I mean none of that would make sense. It would be a safety issue. And so there are things that the federal government needs to regulate. And so here, it seems like the Transportation Secretary is just at the start of this and DHS and ICE are going to enforce this more. And so what do you expect in the coming weeks and months on actually cracking down on this and actually getting these drivers cdls, revoked and off the road?
Tho Bishop : Well, it sounds like the robust investigation, most of the major parts of that have already taken place. obviously when it comes to the enforcement side of this, there certainly have been broad scale arrests. on immigration enforcement, I think that's probably, from the perspective of the promises, the coalition that had got Trump elected the second time around is probably the immigration issue, that he has done the best at aligning with his original campaign rhetoric. And so those mechanisms do lend themselves to stronger practical, enforcement in this area. and
Tho Bishop : I have a feeling that fraud is going to continue to be one of the broader themes. They have the next couple years trying to formalize the End of the legacy.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. Yeah. Well said, Will though, Bishop, really appreciate it. And you can follow him on X. Also the Mises Institute. And you know, this is, this is what I voted for. This type of thing, for the Trump administration to get to the bottom of and to get these drivers off the road. this is something that we can be very grateful for and encourage and say thank you to the Trump administration. So we'll be right back with more. Hi, I'm Jenna Ellis. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist. And that's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American Family Radio and specifically this podcast. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today by visiting afr.netgive that's afr.net Give me. welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.
Dr. Vladimir Lawrence will testify before House Oversight Task Force on birth tourism
Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. Well, there's a hearing on the Hill this morning starting at 10:30, eastern to keep an eye on. So this is coming from Bill Malusian over at Fox News. The founder of a Miami based, birth tourism concierge service called quote have My Baby in Miami will testify before Representative Brandon Gill's House Oversight Task Force. And this Dr. Vladimir Lawrence claims to have helped a, 2,000 plus foreigners have their babies on US soil to secure American citizenship. He is now showing up to testify under subpoena. And so Bill, says this one could get spicy. And that will be very interesting to see what that uncovers because we've, we've known this, and we've known this for a while, that they're beyond just the, the anchor bas, maybe problems that have been with overstays or illegals coming to this country and then having children here who while they are illegal, you know, all of those things. There are people who are coming here specifically intending to give birth to children so that they can have their, their child, be an American citizen. And then they go back, and then are indoctrinated potentially, you know, against American values. And so, this is going to be interesting to see what comes of this and also whether or not this gives rise to potentially more legislation that Congress can enact, because it was so frustrating that the Supreme Court, did not, did not change the rule and ensure that the US Constitution protects America first, in their their birth tourism, opinion last year and well, last, last summer. And so, hopefully with some more of this investigation, there will be even More data and facts that come out so that the Supreme Court can't actually ignore this. so it's, it's a really big problem.
Meta's platforms reportedly ran advertisements featuring child sexualized depictions
But I want to switch gears here in this segment and talk about Meta, of course, which has, the Facebook, Instagram, Mark, Mark Zuckerberg Corporation that has settled now this almost 18, billion dollars settlement that is going to, you know, regulate some of the, the, the child monitoring and you know, what, what has been termed as exploitation. Importantly, Meta did not have to admit liability and any of that. We talked about that a lot last week and the, the, the State of Florida, under Attorney General James Uthmeyer did not participate in that settlement. So that is still ongoing. Actually Governor Ron DeSantis posted on X yesterday, that because there's been no admission of liability, you know, among other things, he said that he's thankful that James Earth Meyer has not participated in that settlement and is still continuing to push. And so meanwhile Wired is reporting that Meta's platforms, and this is separately to, you know, that whole settlement. But this just shows how much Meta, ah, really does need to take responsibility for its actions. Because completely separately, Metta's platforms have ran paid advertisements containing AI generated child sexual abuse imagery, imagery or sexualized depictions of minors. And so we spend an enormous amount of time, you know, talking about big tech censorship, what Facebook should take down, whether they're, you know, platform versus a publisher, what constitutes misinformation, you know, where free speech ends and moderation begins. But there are some categories where this should not be a difficult debate. And sexual exploitation of children absolutely is one of them. So the key distinction here is that these simply weren't random posts that someone uploaded and Meta failed, to catch immediately. These were ads. So according to the article, these were ads, someone paid Meta to distribute them. And so that's what makes this story so disturbing. So what actually happened is that Wired's investigation identified more than 50 ads involving AI generated sexualized depictions of children across Meta's platforms. some promoted, you know, some of these, applications and other AI tools that were capable of generating explicit imagery. And, and Meta subsequently removed the offending advertisements and accounts and said that it has a zero tolerance for child exploitation. But Meta also has an ad review process. So my questions are how did the advertisements get through in the first place? Who is actually overseeing these? Is it, you know, some kind of AI generated type of process? That AI is just talking to AI? I mean, we're getting to the point in our society that a lot of things are, are AI generated. I mean, if you if you apply for a job in almost any big corporation, or even, you know, in some government positions, AI looks at the resume before a human being does and looks for keywords. we've even seen, you know, some of those, types of filters being used in, in grading exams. I mean there are so many, ways that human beings aren't necessarily involved. But Meta, of course, has an ad review process. So what is it? And how did these advertisements get through in the first place? And why didn't meta systems, whatever they are, whether it's human intervention, whether it's through some sort of AI, why didn't their systems recognize that and stop them? And so here's where I would broaden the conversation. Because the AI component makes this much, much bigger. Because for generations, you know, having these types of explicit content, and especially when it deals with graphic images of children, necessarily involved some type of, of actual child. So whether it's photographing or filming or you know, some type of exploitation of an actual child. Now AI is changing that equation. Someone can, and this is where parents, you know, be very careful what you post on social media, even if it's of. And you say, well, you know, my, my Facebook or Instagram profile, you know, only my friends can see it. Well, now someone can potentially take an innocent photograph of a real child like any parent would. But then if someone gets ahold of that image, they can generate a fabricated, more explicit image of that same photo. I mean, if you've ever used AI editing tools, you can. And it, and there was, you know, a few of these that went viral that said, you know, take my, you know, family photo from Christmas and turn it into a Rembrandt kind of painting. You know, a lot of these are very innocent and they're kind of, you know, fun, you know, viral, sorts of participation. And and then you see that same image return to you as an AI generated painting and it looks completely different, but it took a real photo and then it's changing it. And so you can do that as well using AI through very, for very nefarious and evil purposes, not just, you know, cute things like you know, add, you know, add some, some fireworks in the background or you know, some of these things. So, so the depicted event never actually happened with some of these changes and these manipulations. And you know, we've seen that in the context of news as well. That some of These, you know, AI generated images are questions about, you know, Mitch M. McConnell. Is this an AI generated image of him or is this something contemporaneous? But when we're talking about child exploitation, the depicted event never happened. There wasn't actual explicit photography. But the humiliation, the distribution and the exploitation can still be very real. And it still obviously goes against, these platforms, not only their, advertising rules, but also obviously the law. And so that's an enormous legal and also moral problem. So I think we're only beginning to grapple with it.
Artificial intelligence raises moral and criminal questions about online advertising
And this is where, you know, I cover so much about artificial intelligence because this, this touches and concerns so many different facets of our society and our community. I mean it's, it's not just about the legal in terms of regulating, you know, data centers are a big deal right now. Trump even posted yesterday that, you know, if you want to be a, you know, thriving a country and community, you need to be. For all of these data centers. There are arguments back and forth. there's so much about, you know, federal versus state regulation. But, there are so many different areas here. I mean, there are even stories about whether it's ethical, for pastors to use AI generated content, to write their entire sermons. you know, where does the line cross between aggregation and maybe, you know, using AI and, and a lot of people, I mean, I use AI for, for a lot of, you know, various things for aggregate data. Yeah. Pulling up articles. AI can do searches, in ways that would take me hours. Right. So it can be a very good tool, but it can't replace human intelligence, it can't replace human thought. It should never replace, human ingenuity. And when we're talking about something that is AI generated and now we're getting into, even additional criminal questions, not just moral questions like, you know, whether pastors, should use AI to, to dictate their sermons. That's a moral question. This becomes a criminal question when we're talking about child exploitation. And the obvious objection that some people use is, well, you know, but it's AI. But if it's a completely AI generated, you know, there wasn't an actual child that was being used to create the image. Well, that's not enough morally or legally. And we need to distinguish between the production of an image, the ecosystem that the image helps create. Because, the normalization and the facilitation of these kinds of images, and especially when an identifiable real child likeness is manipulated, there's an actual victim whose identity is being exploited. And so the principle, in my view, should not be, was a camera physically present. It should be our children being exploited or depicted as objects of sexual abuse. And so the scrutiny now needs to be directly on Meta for this instance, because we constantly hear about how sophisticated big tech's algorithms are that they can detect copyright violations, they can identify prohibited advertisements. I mean, I post something on Facebook and, you know, do an overlay with music, and it's like, well, wait a minute, let me go through your entire video before it posts and make sure that there's not a copyright violation. I mean, there are so many different ways that Meta tries to catch your content before it's posted and identify prohibited advertisements, prohibited, you know, like copyright violations. They can analyze enormous quantities of speech, images, behavior. They make sure they're, they aren't things like, you know, snuff videos that, that show, you know, any sort of graphic, imagery as well. And they can even target an advertisement to you based on an extraordinary amount of information. I mean, all the algorithms, everybody says, okay, I'm getting all of the puppy videos because I'm, you know, just searching, you know, for dog videos. Now my algorithm is pushing that to me because it seems that I like that type of content. So all of that is happening, and we know that, but somehow advertisements sexualizing children are making it through. I mean, how is that happening? And I think that's a legitimate question. And I hope that that question, continues for Meta in the context of this overall problem that Meta is at least still dealing with in Florida. And according to Wired, according to this piece, researchers found additional offending advertisements even around the time Meta was being questioned about the problem. So we have a few questions here. How much review, human review, actually exists? How much has Meta outsourced moderation to these automated systems? And are we now asking AI to police abuses created by AI and who ultimately wins out? Well, you know, if we follow the money, these images weren't merely hosted. They weren't just something that someone posted on their platform. Meta's business is advertising. And we, and we're seeing how much money, is generated through Meta. And that's why, you know, this $18 billion is, is barely a blip on their screen. So we need to ask the other questions as well, is how much money did Meta receive from companies promoting these applications? Where did that money go? Has it been returned? Once they pulled the ads down, did they say, okay, you know, we're, we're not going to to deal with you again. And how many impressions did the ads generate? How many people clicked on them? What was, is meta, now taking those people's profiles off? Are they saying, you know, you can't advertise with us anymore? How long were they running? And what safeguards, have actually changed? And so this is a, this is broader into the, the big tech and free speech debate because we can be extremely critical of censorship of speech online, but simultaneously demand aggressive enforcement against these types of ads and this type of explicit content. Because realize and recognize these are not contradictory positions. They are perfectly consistent. And the fact that, we have this problem with big tech censorship is often that corporations are the ones suppressing lawful speech because someone finds it objectionable. But now we're talking about advertisements that go through this review process way more heavily than an individual's post. And you're, you. They are allowing it to be put on their, their advertisement forum, for, in exchange for money. I mean, it's, it's a, it's a horrible story. And the answer to bad censorship is no moderation whatsoever. It's drawing the lines in correct places. So if this is a political disagreement, protect the speech. Unpopular opinions protect the speech. Religious viewpoints, protect the speech. If this speech is explicit content, you absolutely have to stop it. And so one of the other larger issues is that tech here is moving faster than the law. That's why we have to continue to talk about these stories, and we're going to talk about another one when we come right back with more. And Congress cannot wait to figure this out. the law and the oversight cannot wait to figure this out. We need to make sure that AI and these kind of exploitations don't get ahead of the law. We'll be right back with more.
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Jenna Ellis: Technology companies should be held accountable for what their products facilitate
welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.
Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. We're talking about this meta story, about these advertisements that carried explicit content, what they knew, why they didn't, catch those sooner. But this brings us to a bigger conversation that I want to have because the obvious response to stories like this is that we need stronger AI guardrails. And we absolutely do. Technology companies should be held accountable for what their products facilitate and particularly when children are involved. But here's where I think Christians need to go one step further. Yes, we need stronger AI guardrails. We need good regulation. That's the difference between conservatives and, you know, the libertarian model that says, you know, that, that really no regulation of government, you know, we shouldn't be in favor of any regulation. The conservative position would say, you know, yes, we need regulation in limited, types of ways so that we ensure that we can, promote good, restrain evil, and build a moral and upright society. And so, the, the companies should protect children and the government has a legitimate role in, punishing evil and restraining evil. But you can't regulate your way into virtue. And we've seen this throughout American history, throughout, you know, world history. And you also can't algorithm your way out of human depravity. So scripture tells us the fundamental problem isn't technology. It's the human heart attack can amplify evil, evil, accelerate it, put it in the palm of a child's hand, but it didn't invent it. So yes, build the guardrails, hold big tech accountable, protect children aggressively. But none of that replaces parents discipling children, churches teaching truth, pastors actually being responsible for their sermons, communities exercising sizing wisdom and ultimately the authority of God's word. And so I want to welcome in Troy Miller, who is the president of the National Religious Broadcasters Association.
Are we in danger of looking to technology to protect our children from moral crisis
And Troy, so let me ask you, are we in danger of looking to technology potentially to protect our children from a moral crisis that technology itself can never solve?
Troy Miller: Yeah, you said it. I think. Spot on. this is a problem with the heart. It starts in the heart. It starts with the sinful nature that we've had from the fall in the garden and something that only God can change within us. But also, I think you said the biggest responsibility starts at home. It starts in the family of, first of all, understanding that and understanding the culture, the bigger culture around us. I think AI has a number of great potentials, for productivity, to help with, medical things, all kinds of stuff. But it also, as you said, has great potential for evil and harm, mainly because the people behind it are sinful, broken people.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah. and that's what parents, I think, need to understand the most. even, you know, adults who are turning to AI not just as a tool like, you know, an aggregator or, you know, a calculator, you know, those kinds of things, but actually turning to AI for analysis and even in some instances, advice. Because, we're seeing reports of, increasingly that, you know, teenagers and even adults are turning to AI for answers about, you know, everyday problems, counseling, you know, what, what their relationship problems are. And you know, they're using AI basically as a substitute for biblical discipleship. And that becomes a really big problem culturally, and in the church.
Troy Miller: Well, exactly. And this goes back to some of, you know, the issues of the industry itself. You know, we recently had, you know, Facebook meta who, who, you know, came to a, settlement on the cases, how it was building, you know, it's, it's pages and things to influence and to keep kids connected. Because there's a business, you know, model behind all of these AI, behind all of this social media. There's a lot of AI behind social media. And that business model is to keep people connected as much as possible. And sometimes, and I think a lot that business model is really comes in conflict with really the ethical and moral kind of underpinnings behind AI. I've talked about it. It's one thing to have artificial intelligence, as you said, to have a tool that helped you could do research better, can, help you be more productive in a number of different, ah, areas, can help you proofread and really fill in the gaps for a lot of things. But when AI moves, and I think this is where the real harm comes in. Talk about this later when we go from artificial intelligence to artificial humanity, where AI becomes a mentor or a pastor or a shepherd or a companion or a friend. Now we have an intelligent bot that's doing that to keep you pulled in, to keep you hooked, to keep you, as part of their economic system. And that's a real problem In a society whose number one problem is loneliness and emptiness. And so I think we can see where that would go and all the harm that that could do, especially the harm of teenagers, adolescents and young adults.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And this gets into an even broader conversation about, transhumanism and where you know, Christianity says human nature, obviously something we receive from God our creator, we are made in the image of God. And do we still have Troy and. Oh, I guess we don't. We'll call him back, in just a moment. And so, we'll try to get him back there, Adam and Devin and just let me know when he's back.
Troy Miller: We're seeing some AI replacements for human interactions
But you know, this, this whole debate about replacement of, of human analysis, human contact, even human discipleship, human advice. When we're replacing this with an AI model, don't forget there are people behind AI. I mean AI and all of these, these tech things are only as good as the, the designers and the engineers behind them. This isn't a situation, you know, where AI sort of taking on, you know, a life of itself and you know, the rise of the machines and those types of things. And I'm told we're, we have Troy Miller back. And I want to ask you, you know, as we're seeing some of these replacements, for human interactions, especially you know, counselors, discipleships. I mean even a friend of mine was telling me recently about, his friend who, you know, goes on like a 45 minute walk every night and just talks to AI about, you know, his life and gets, you know, this advice. I mean that is a replacement for a friend, for a counselor, for a pastor. and, and yet there is intelligence behind this. AI isn't its own, doesn't have its own mind. And so, how dangerous is this to the core of, of the human condition in terms of, of how we understand the problem of transhumanism, and, and how we're interacting with this tech and replacing, human cognition.
Troy Miller: Artificial intelligence raises questions about ethics and morality
Troy Miller: Right. And as I was talking about, sorry for the disconnect, but we were talking about, you know, this idea. It's one thing to have this artificial intelligence again to help you do all these tools, but we're building in this artificial humanity into these bots, these algorithms. When you said behind them is not really an intelligence, it's a, it's a set of algorithms, rules and things and predictability that sort of gives this semi quasi intelligence to it. But in the society whose number one problem is loneliness and emptiness, we're really dressing people or People are getting connected to an entity that really can't understand empathy, doesn't understand context, can't really hold sympathy, doesn't have the ability to love. we've seen this in the. In the whole. Recently, some of the lawsuits that were filed, that these bots were built to, be companions. So they were built in such a way that they would always confirm what the other person was, you know, talking about to be more encouraging. And what that did was confirm a lot of young adults right into suicide. and so when we try to play sort of God, thinking that we can create a humanity, I think we're. I think that more than the. The whole idea of this taking over the world, destroyed humanity, the idea of this trying to replace humanity is more dangerous than anything.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah. And. And is there a danger that AI shifts our thinking from technology exists to serve humanity to this idea that humanity then needs to evolve to keep up with technology?
Troy Miller: Yeah. And that's the whole, you know, transhumanism, as you alluded to. The discussion that's going on there is, is what does it even mean to be human? And how does human. How does humanity keep up with this. This technology itself? And I think that's, you know, there's just a lot of dangerous ground we're stepping into that I'm not sure that we ethically or morally really thought through. It reminds me of the line in that first Jurassic park movie, when the character, Jeff Logan's character, was talking about the gene, splicing they were doing. He said, you were so worried whether you could do it, you never thought about whether you should. And are we thinking about what the implications are, the psychological, emotional, social implications are if people are attached to a, virtual entity and abandoned their actual real relationships with other human beings? You know, the Bible, as Christians, we're called to be in fellowship with one another. We're called to be in fellowship with humans that were made in God's image, that we have body, mind and soul, in there. But what happens when we get, attached to a virtual humanity that doesn't have any of those things?
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah. And, And it raises questions. I mean, this isn't just within the AI debate. I mean, as you were speaking, I mean, those questions of whether we should do, you know, some of these advancements. I mean, it's even like in the. In the medical industry. I mean, we talk about all of this problem with, you know, IVF and, and surrogacy and child commodification. You Know, all of those things. Maybe the advances in medical technology allow us to, to mess with, the, the creation of a child. But that doesn't mean that we should, morally or ethically. And so, you know, Genesis 3, begins with the temptation that humanity can become like God. I mean that's, you know, the, the original draw of sin. And do you think there are, Troy Miller, legitimate parallels between that temptation and all of these advancements in the technological movement that promises things like, you know, you can, create a baby with, you know, the eye color you prefer and all, you know, and without defects and commoditizing, you know, overcoming, mortality, biological limits and even, eventual, you know, redesigning of humans.
Troy Miller: And not only the eventual redesigning of humans as you talked about, but we already have this today and the decisions of, you know, what humans should live, what humans should flourish, what humans should not. You know, this is the whole life debate, when does the value of human life end? you know, when you're elderly and those sort of things. We've always tried to. Humanity has had this role of trying to, you know, play God, as you said, that first enticement in the garden and then all the way to the, to, you know, Babel and, and this idea that we have tried to be God, but we are not God and we are far, far short of the ability, to do what God does. and we've seen the kinds of evil and death that this is really brought about to humanity. In the end, every time we try to, to go down that path, it ends up in the same place. It ends up in massive human suffering. and it's really why, Jim, I think the start of this, why the church community and pastors need to be a part of this discussion and they need to understand, what is going on in AI, where it's moving to what some of the vision of some of these companies who are behind these models have. Because there are visions that I could be, quote, a savior of humanity. and it's AI that will save us. And we just know as Christians that's not the case. But if we bury our head in the sand or shy away from it like we've done with some other technologies in the past, I think this is a technology that before we know it, it could be just, ah, destructive on a massive scale in its social, and psychological implications.
Jenna Ellis: Absolutely. I mean, you know, AI could become easily an idol. I mean, not because people literally worship a computer, but because, you know, all of the idols in scripture are replacements and substitutes for God and what belongs to God. And so we're increasingly asking technology to give us knowledge, security, identity, you know, companionship, advice, discipleship, all of these things that we should be seeking from God and also through the relationships that he gives us with human connection.
Christian parents need to be grounding their kids now in a biblical worldview
So in just the last minute or two that we have here, Troy Miller, what should Christian parents be teaching their kids now? So that 10 or 20 years from now they have a biblical anthropology that's strong enough to recognize these differences?
Troy Miller: And that's the key to it. They need to be grounding their kids now in a biblical worldview and a biblical anthropology that helps them understand what's going on in this virtual world. And they really have to talk to, kids today, just like we had to talk to kids about drugs and everything else. We need to talk to them about the dangers of getting attached to these virtual devices and these virtual entities. But I think the key to it is, as you said, parents have to do this. And the key to parents doing it, especially for Christians, is for the church to be involved in this. And the church has to be the place pastors have to be shepherding this and really advising parents that this is an area you have to get into. So all the way across the board.
Jenna Ellis: Troy Miller, I so appreciate your comments. And it's so true. I mean, this is where the civil government can't restrain this totally. It's the church government and the family government primarily that needs to have discipleship in these areas. And we've got to make sure that we protect and preserve this for our kids. As always, you can reach me and my team JennaAFR.net preborn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion. And every day their network clinics rescue 200 babies lives. Will you join PreBorn in loving and supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com afr.
Preborn needs your help to provide ultrasounds for pregnant women
Jenna Ellis: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But she can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside her. One ultrasound is just $28 and to donate dial pound250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr Jenna Ellis in the morning on American Family Radio.
Judge in Charlie Kirk murder case expected to release opinion on Wednesday
Jenna Ellis: I love talking about the things of God. Because of truth and the biblical worldview. The U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect the rights that our founders recognize come from God our creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raised up each of you and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time. This is Jenna Ellis in the morning.
Jenna Ellis: Good morning. It is Tuesday, September 1st and that means that we anticipate that the judge in the Charlie Kirk, murder case is going to release, his opinion on whether or not Tyler Robinson, who of course is accused of murdering Charlie Kirk last year on September 10, will face the aggravated, mansion, aggravated murder charges that he is facing and whether or not those are bound over to the court for trial. So after that preliminary hearing a couple of months ago. So we are staying tuned on the live program for that decision that is anticipated sometime today.
The administration shut down hundreds of driving schools granting licenses to illegal immigrants
Meanwhile, yesterday the Trump administration announced that it's shutting down 270 driving schools in a fraud crackdown. The administration shut down hundreds of driving schools granting licenses to illegal immigrants. And this is what Transportation Secretary Shawn Duffy had to say. Announcing the move alongside Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin. This is cut to really quick.
Sean Duffy: I want to talk about how we, how we got here. The last administration let millions of illegals into the country. Now when those legals came in, oftentimes our data on those individuals started on their point of entry. We couldn't go back and look at their their, their, their countries of origin. We couldn't see their criminal records, we can't see their driving records. We basically have zero information about who these people are. And we took them from point of entry to today, in regard to their criminal histories or their driving records. on top of that the last administration did away with our long standing safety rules that make sure we get well qualified drivers driving big rigs, motor vehicles, and then the last administration allowed truck driving schools to self certify to say that they meet all of the federal standards to be a certified truck driving school. And what we found is many of those schools actually meet that standard. And then we had tens of thousands of illegal ah, driver's licenses issued across the state. and it's brought us to a problem where many of you have covered or you've watched on social media, a number of American families whose lives have been ruined, they've lost a loved one.
Jenna Ellis: So the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief said that each of these 110 greatest offenders that, that are being shut down past at least 10 drivers who were subsequently cited for English language proficiency, during roadside inspections by law enforcement. And he went on to cite multiple examples where drivers who were illegally granted licenses killed people in crashes while on the job. And so he said it's unacceptable when you see people die on the road. You don't forget that. And it starts right here, what with what I am talking about. Our investigators went into 400 driver training schools and we found that 40% of these that we investigated did not meet the rules and requirements of our ah, regulators. And so Mullin added that illegal immigrants with commercial driver's licenses have been a major factor in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, saying that ICE found over 100 individuals who had been granted these CDLs. And literally on the CDL it said no name given, so just so much fraud. So let's welcome in ah, tho Bishop who is with the Mises Institute. And though this is very extensive, very ah, deep, it goes to a lot of these schools. and obviously the Secretary, the Transportation Secretary as well said that the, the requirement of speaking English so that you can actually read the signs on the road and know what you're doing isn't a rule that the Trump administration administration created. It's been in place for, for a while. So is this the fault of the schools that are granting these licenses, or the DMV in the states? Or where is the actual fraud being originated here?
Tho Bishop : I think, I think in this case it's all the above. But I think it really goes to a deeper m more systemic issue which is the double standard, a federal policy, the design. Whenever you, you have a desired outcome, there are things in the margin, be they explicit rule changes or simply looking the other way, allowing for certain outcomes, you know, promoting it. And that's what we've had in this country for a very long Time is a bias often in favor of immigrants over competency and other dynamics that create a very systemically fraudulent dynamic that allows for this sort of very broad issue pop up, you know, particularly in an industry which has such a major public safety, safety dynamic for it. So I don't think it's one single cause obviously it was simply, a specific school, lying about its certification dynamics. that'd be one issue. When it's something as this broad, I think it really goes to, again, just a implicit desire, in favor of, oh, well, we want more immigrants, therefore we're going to. No one's illegal, therefore we will create an environment to make it as easy as possible to get trucking licenses. I think that there is something more systemic than a single actor here in the great chain of, the CDL certification process.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, I mean, how does fraud on this scale exist without regulators catching it much sooner? I mean, this isn't just, you know, one or two isolated incidents that, you know, investigators are looking at after the fact. If there, you know, is some kind of accident or, you know, when they go to renew their cdl. I mean, how is this kind of. It seems like this is basically a, A very broad and deep scheme.
Tho Bishop : that's exactly right. And I think that this goes to. Again, there's a lot of facades with how we think about, federal government at a variety of levels. Right. You know, we have this notion of, of ah, political neutrality. We have this notion of various levels of enforcement to create checks and balances. We have this notion of a variety of things which sound great on paper, but in reality, in practice, there's always a political component to everything Washington does, be it from, be it the courts, be it the regulatory bodies and everything. This is an inherent part. And so you can have something on paper in terms of certifications or accountability or these different processes. If the explicit desire or if the implicit desire is aligned with an agenda, then they're going to find ways to create loopholes to create, you know, to not look here, not look there. and again, I guess it goes to something deeper than this. But I think this is a very explicit example. I mean, unfortunately, it's an explicit example that's killed many people through, people that shouldn't be driving big rigs on very populated roads. But, it really goes to, I think, a deeper illustration of how things really have worked in this country. And I think that's precisely that frustration, you know, that, that. That engage the rise of Trump, Trump's two presidencies. It goes to the, the growing distrust of institutions more broadly. It goes to, you know, a number of factors here, and it's because Washington as it actually operates is not the way that it is supposed to on paper. and this is one of the more severe examples of that.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And, you know, according to the data that was reported by the Wallnua Street Journal, There are roughly 200,000 immigrant CDL holders in the country. And now more than 20 states are fighting the administration's effort, which is insane in my opinion. I mean that's just ridiculous that you wouldn't want to get these drivers off the road. But they're fighting, the Trump administration's effort to obtain nationwide, CDL data, citing privacy and federalism concern. And commercial licensing has traditionally involved both a, state and federal authority. So where exactly should the line be between a state's power to issue a cdl, but also you have to fall in line with the federal government's and even the state's own regulations and responsibility to make sure that especially interstate commercial drivers meet federal safety requirements. Because we saw even here in Florida, with the example of, you know, that one just horrible, accident last year with a truck driver I think was from California who'd been issued a cdl, but obviously, you know, made his way to Florida. So this isn't just, you know, the state having the consequences within the state, which they still are under an obligation to protect their own citizens. But, you know, this is a nationwide problem if even one state is not cooperating, much less now, you know, 20, blue states that are resisting this kind of oversight. You're absolutely correct.
Tho Bishop : I am by nature reflexively, very much a federalist of states rights, sort of person when it comes to what is the best way of solving many of these problems. The issue is that in a situation like this, Florida can't ban California CDL drivers for a variety of reasons in entering Florida. So there is not a mechanism there to regulate against the consequences are to try to mitigate the consequences of abuses at other states, there. And so therefore, you know, having a broader, more national approach to it is, is the more practical approach there. and again, I remember vividly the Florida example here. and again it goes to, you know, the amount of influence pockets of the country can have, be it from a lack of proper regulatory oversight when it comes to, in this case, CDL licenses or even examples going the other way, surprise, surprise. California often being the largest Problem with it. But it's California having particularly burdensome various levels of regulation. It's an example of one state in California often being a leader there that can create a quasi standard both higher and lower for the rest of the country. which is an interesting thing about this. But again, it goes again how system actually works in practice rather than what we've told.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, and I'm with you. I mean I am a federalist as well. I mean I, I want more of the power returned to the states, to local governments. they're the strongest to enforce that close to the people. And you know, this is why we have the 50 different laboratories of democracy, you know, as they say. But there are some things that obviously the federal government, needs to regulate because they touch and concern all states. And you can't have a different rule in one state versus another state because it affects them. It might affect, you know, things like interstate commerce. That's a whole other conversation about how the interstate commerce clause has gotten, you know, so expanded to give the federal government more power than it should. But on, you know, on some things, like this, that, that genuinely there needs to be a rule. I mean it would be the same thing as if the FAA weren't in control of, you know, all of the airspace and each of the states have different roles or you know, pilots weren't, required to speak English, you know, in order to fly between the states.
Will Bishop says the Trump administration is cracking down on fraudulent drivers
I mean none of that would make sense. It would be a safety issue. And so there are things that the federal government needs to regulate. And so here, it seems like the Transportation Secretary is just at the start of this and DHS and ICE are going to enforce this more. And so what do you expect in the coming weeks and months on actually cracking down on this and actually getting these drivers cdls, revoked and off the road?
Tho Bishop : Well, it sounds like the robust investigation, most of the major parts of that have already taken place. obviously when it comes to the enforcement side of this, there certainly have been broad scale arrests. on immigration enforcement, I think that's probably, from the perspective of the promises, the coalition that had got Trump elected the second time around is probably the immigration issue, that he has done the best at aligning with his original campaign rhetoric. And so those mechanisms do lend themselves to stronger practical, enforcement in this area. and
Tho Bishop : I have a feeling that fraud is going to continue to be one of the broader themes. They have the next couple years trying to formalize the End of the legacy.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. Yeah. Well said, Will though, Bishop, really appreciate it. And you can follow him on X. Also the Mises Institute. And you know, this is, this is what I voted for. This type of thing, for the Trump administration to get to the bottom of and to get these drivers off the road. this is something that we can be very grateful for and encourage and say thank you to the Trump administration. So we'll be right back with more. Hi, I'm Jenna Ellis. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist. And that's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American Family Radio and specifically this podcast. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today by visiting afr.netgive that's afr.net Give me. welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.
Dr. Vladimir Lawrence will testify before House Oversight Task Force on birth tourism
Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. Well, there's a hearing on the Hill this morning starting at 10:30, eastern to keep an eye on. So this is coming from Bill Malusian over at Fox News. The founder of a Miami based, birth tourism concierge service called quote have My Baby in Miami will testify before Representative Brandon Gill's House Oversight Task Force. And this Dr. Vladimir Lawrence claims to have helped a, 2,000 plus foreigners have their babies on US soil to secure American citizenship. He is now showing up to testify under subpoena. And so Bill, says this one could get spicy. And that will be very interesting to see what that uncovers because we've, we've known this, and we've known this for a while, that they're beyond just the, the anchor bas, maybe problems that have been with overstays or illegals coming to this country and then having children here who while they are illegal, you know, all of those things. There are people who are coming here specifically intending to give birth to children so that they can have their, their child, be an American citizen. And then they go back, and then are indoctrinated potentially, you know, against American values. And so, this is going to be interesting to see what comes of this and also whether or not this gives rise to potentially more legislation that Congress can enact, because it was so frustrating that the Supreme Court, did not, did not change the rule and ensure that the US Constitution protects America first, in their their birth tourism, opinion last year and well, last, last summer. And so, hopefully with some more of this investigation, there will be even More data and facts that come out so that the Supreme Court can't actually ignore this. so it's, it's a really big problem.
Meta's platforms reportedly ran advertisements featuring child sexualized depictions
But I want to switch gears here in this segment and talk about Meta, of course, which has, the Facebook, Instagram, Mark, Mark Zuckerberg Corporation that has settled now this almost 18, billion dollars settlement that is going to, you know, regulate some of the, the, the child monitoring and you know, what, what has been termed as exploitation. Importantly, Meta did not have to admit liability and any of that. We talked about that a lot last week and the, the, the State of Florida, under Attorney General James Uthmeyer did not participate in that settlement. So that is still ongoing. Actually Governor Ron DeSantis posted on X yesterday, that because there's been no admission of liability, you know, among other things, he said that he's thankful that James Earth Meyer has not participated in that settlement and is still continuing to push. And so meanwhile Wired is reporting that Meta's platforms, and this is separately to, you know, that whole settlement. But this just shows how much Meta, ah, really does need to take responsibility for its actions. Because completely separately, Metta's platforms have ran paid advertisements containing AI generated child sexual abuse imagery, imagery or sexualized depictions of minors. And so we spend an enormous amount of time, you know, talking about big tech censorship, what Facebook should take down, whether they're, you know, platform versus a publisher, what constitutes misinformation, you know, where free speech ends and moderation begins. But there are some categories where this should not be a difficult debate. And sexual exploitation of children absolutely is one of them. So the key distinction here is that these simply weren't random posts that someone uploaded and Meta failed, to catch immediately. These were ads. So according to the article, these were ads, someone paid Meta to distribute them. And so that's what makes this story so disturbing. So what actually happened is that Wired's investigation identified more than 50 ads involving AI generated sexualized depictions of children across Meta's platforms. some promoted, you know, some of these, applications and other AI tools that were capable of generating explicit imagery. And, and Meta subsequently removed the offending advertisements and accounts and said that it has a zero tolerance for child exploitation. But Meta also has an ad review process. So my questions are how did the advertisements get through in the first place? Who is actually overseeing these? Is it, you know, some kind of AI generated type of process? That AI is just talking to AI? I mean, we're getting to the point in our society that a lot of things are, are AI generated. I mean, if you if you apply for a job in almost any big corporation, or even, you know, in some government positions, AI looks at the resume before a human being does and looks for keywords. we've even seen, you know, some of those, types of filters being used in, in grading exams. I mean there are so many, ways that human beings aren't necessarily involved. But Meta, of course, has an ad review process. So what is it? And how did these advertisements get through in the first place? And why didn't meta systems, whatever they are, whether it's human intervention, whether it's through some sort of AI, why didn't their systems recognize that and stop them? And so here's where I would broaden the conversation. Because the AI component makes this much, much bigger. Because for generations, you know, having these types of explicit content, and especially when it deals with graphic images of children, necessarily involved some type of, of actual child. So whether it's photographing or filming or you know, some type of exploitation of an actual child. Now AI is changing that equation. Someone can, and this is where parents, you know, be very careful what you post on social media, even if it's of. And you say, well, you know, my, my Facebook or Instagram profile, you know, only my friends can see it. Well, now someone can potentially take an innocent photograph of a real child like any parent would. But then if someone gets ahold of that image, they can generate a fabricated, more explicit image of that same photo. I mean, if you've ever used AI editing tools, you can. And it, and there was, you know, a few of these that went viral that said, you know, take my, you know, family photo from Christmas and turn it into a Rembrandt kind of painting. You know, a lot of these are very innocent and they're kind of, you know, fun, you know, viral, sorts of participation. And and then you see that same image return to you as an AI generated painting and it looks completely different, but it took a real photo and then it's changing it. And so you can do that as well using AI through very, for very nefarious and evil purposes, not just, you know, cute things like you know, add, you know, add some, some fireworks in the background or you know, some of these things. So, so the depicted event never actually happened with some of these changes and these manipulations. And you know, we've seen that in the context of news as well. That some of These, you know, AI generated images are questions about, you know, Mitch M. McConnell. Is this an AI generated image of him or is this something contemporaneous? But when we're talking about child exploitation, the depicted event never happened. There wasn't actual explicit photography. But the humiliation, the distribution and the exploitation can still be very real. And it still obviously goes against, these platforms, not only their, advertising rules, but also obviously the law. And so that's an enormous legal and also moral problem. So I think we're only beginning to grapple with it.
Artificial intelligence raises moral and criminal questions about online advertising
And this is where, you know, I cover so much about artificial intelligence because this, this touches and concerns so many different facets of our society and our community. I mean it's, it's not just about the legal in terms of regulating, you know, data centers are a big deal right now. Trump even posted yesterday that, you know, if you want to be a, you know, thriving a country and community, you need to be. For all of these data centers. There are arguments back and forth. there's so much about, you know, federal versus state regulation. But, there are so many different areas here. I mean, there are even stories about whether it's ethical, for pastors to use AI generated content, to write their entire sermons. you know, where does the line cross between aggregation and maybe, you know, using AI and, and a lot of people, I mean, I use AI for, for a lot of, you know, various things for aggregate data. Yeah. Pulling up articles. AI can do searches, in ways that would take me hours. Right. So it can be a very good tool, but it can't replace human intelligence, it can't replace human thought. It should never replace, human ingenuity. And when we're talking about something that is AI generated and now we're getting into, even additional criminal questions, not just moral questions like, you know, whether pastors, should use AI to, to dictate their sermons. That's a moral question. This becomes a criminal question when we're talking about child exploitation. And the obvious objection that some people use is, well, you know, but it's AI. But if it's a completely AI generated, you know, there wasn't an actual child that was being used to create the image. Well, that's not enough morally or legally. And we need to distinguish between the production of an image, the ecosystem that the image helps create. Because, the normalization and the facilitation of these kinds of images, and especially when an identifiable real child likeness is manipulated, there's an actual victim whose identity is being exploited. And so the principle, in my view, should not be, was a camera physically present. It should be our children being exploited or depicted as objects of sexual abuse. And so the scrutiny now needs to be directly on Meta for this instance, because we constantly hear about how sophisticated big tech's algorithms are that they can detect copyright violations, they can identify prohibited advertisements. I mean, I post something on Facebook and, you know, do an overlay with music, and it's like, well, wait a minute, let me go through your entire video before it posts and make sure that there's not a copyright violation. I mean, there are so many different ways that Meta tries to catch your content before it's posted and identify prohibited advertisements, prohibited, you know, like copyright violations. They can analyze enormous quantities of speech, images, behavior. They make sure they're, they aren't things like, you know, snuff videos that, that show, you know, any sort of graphic, imagery as well. And they can even target an advertisement to you based on an extraordinary amount of information. I mean, all the algorithms, everybody says, okay, I'm getting all of the puppy videos because I'm, you know, just searching, you know, for dog videos. Now my algorithm is pushing that to me because it seems that I like that type of content. So all of that is happening, and we know that, but somehow advertisements sexualizing children are making it through. I mean, how is that happening? And I think that's a legitimate question. And I hope that that question, continues for Meta in the context of this overall problem that Meta is at least still dealing with in Florida. And according to Wired, according to this piece, researchers found additional offending advertisements even around the time Meta was being questioned about the problem. So we have a few questions here. How much review, human review, actually exists? How much has Meta outsourced moderation to these automated systems? And are we now asking AI to police abuses created by AI and who ultimately wins out? Well, you know, if we follow the money, these images weren't merely hosted. They weren't just something that someone posted on their platform. Meta's business is advertising. And we, and we're seeing how much money, is generated through Meta. And that's why, you know, this $18 billion is, is barely a blip on their screen. So we need to ask the other questions as well, is how much money did Meta receive from companies promoting these applications? Where did that money go? Has it been returned? Once they pulled the ads down, did they say, okay, you know, we're, we're not going to to deal with you again. And how many impressions did the ads generate? How many people clicked on them? What was, is meta, now taking those people's profiles off? Are they saying, you know, you can't advertise with us anymore? How long were they running? And what safeguards, have actually changed? And so this is a, this is broader into the, the big tech and free speech debate because we can be extremely critical of censorship of speech online, but simultaneously demand aggressive enforcement against these types of ads and this type of explicit content. Because realize and recognize these are not contradictory positions. They are perfectly consistent. And the fact that, we have this problem with big tech censorship is often that corporations are the ones suppressing lawful speech because someone finds it objectionable. But now we're talking about advertisements that go through this review process way more heavily than an individual's post. And you're, you. They are allowing it to be put on their, their advertisement forum, for, in exchange for money. I mean, it's, it's a, it's a horrible story. And the answer to bad censorship is no moderation whatsoever. It's drawing the lines in correct places. So if this is a political disagreement, protect the speech. Unpopular opinions protect the speech. Religious viewpoints, protect the speech. If this speech is explicit content, you absolutely have to stop it. And so one of the other larger issues is that tech here is moving faster than the law. That's why we have to continue to talk about these stories, and we're going to talk about another one when we come right back with more. And Congress cannot wait to figure this out. the law and the oversight cannot wait to figure this out. We need to make sure that AI and these kind of exploitations don't get ahead of the law. We'll be right back with more.
80% of abortion vulnerable women choose life after seeing baby on ultrasound
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Jenna Ellis: Technology companies should be held accountable for what their products facilitate
welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.
Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. We're talking about this meta story, about these advertisements that carried explicit content, what they knew, why they didn't, catch those sooner. But this brings us to a bigger conversation that I want to have because the obvious response to stories like this is that we need stronger AI guardrails. And we absolutely do. Technology companies should be held accountable for what their products facilitate and particularly when children are involved. But here's where I think Christians need to go one step further. Yes, we need stronger AI guardrails. We need good regulation. That's the difference between conservatives and, you know, the libertarian model that says, you know, that, that really no regulation of government, you know, we shouldn't be in favor of any regulation. The conservative position would say, you know, yes, we need regulation in limited, types of ways so that we ensure that we can, promote good, restrain evil, and build a moral and upright society. And so, the, the companies should protect children and the government has a legitimate role in, punishing evil and restraining evil. But you can't regulate your way into virtue. And we've seen this throughout American history, throughout, you know, world history. And you also can't algorithm your way out of human depravity. So scripture tells us the fundamental problem isn't technology. It's the human heart attack can amplify evil, evil, accelerate it, put it in the palm of a child's hand, but it didn't invent it. So yes, build the guardrails, hold big tech accountable, protect children aggressively. But none of that replaces parents discipling children, churches teaching truth, pastors actually being responsible for their sermons, communities exercising sizing wisdom and ultimately the authority of God's word. And so I want to welcome in Troy Miller, who is the president of the National Religious Broadcasters Association.
Are we in danger of looking to technology to protect our children from moral crisis
And Troy, so let me ask you, are we in danger of looking to technology potentially to protect our children from a moral crisis that technology itself can never solve?
Troy Miller: Yeah, you said it. I think. Spot on. this is a problem with the heart. It starts in the heart. It starts with the sinful nature that we've had from the fall in the garden and something that only God can change within us. But also, I think you said the biggest responsibility starts at home. It starts in the family of, first of all, understanding that and understanding the culture, the bigger culture around us. I think AI has a number of great potentials, for productivity, to help with, medical things, all kinds of stuff. But it also, as you said, has great potential for evil and harm, mainly because the people behind it are sinful, broken people.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah. and that's what parents, I think, need to understand the most. even, you know, adults who are turning to AI not just as a tool like, you know, an aggregator or, you know, a calculator, you know, those kinds of things, but actually turning to AI for analysis and even in some instances, advice. Because, we're seeing reports of, increasingly that, you know, teenagers and even adults are turning to AI for answers about, you know, everyday problems, counseling, you know, what, what their relationship problems are. And you know, they're using AI basically as a substitute for biblical discipleship. And that becomes a really big problem culturally, and in the church.
Troy Miller: Well, exactly. And this goes back to some of, you know, the issues of the industry itself. You know, we recently had, you know, Facebook meta who, who, you know, came to a, settlement on the cases, how it was building, you know, it's, it's pages and things to influence and to keep kids connected. Because there's a business, you know, model behind all of these AI, behind all of this social media. There's a lot of AI behind social media. And that business model is to keep people connected as much as possible. And sometimes, and I think a lot that business model is really comes in conflict with really the ethical and moral kind of underpinnings behind AI. I've talked about it. It's one thing to have artificial intelligence, as you said, to have a tool that helped you could do research better, can, help you be more productive in a number of different, ah, areas, can help you proofread and really fill in the gaps for a lot of things. But when AI moves, and I think this is where the real harm comes in. Talk about this later when we go from artificial intelligence to artificial humanity, where AI becomes a mentor or a pastor or a shepherd or a companion or a friend. Now we have an intelligent bot that's doing that to keep you pulled in, to keep you hooked, to keep you, as part of their economic system. And that's a real problem In a society whose number one problem is loneliness and emptiness. And so I think we can see where that would go and all the harm that that could do, especially the harm of teenagers, adolescents and young adults.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And this gets into an even broader conversation about, transhumanism and where you know, Christianity says human nature, obviously something we receive from God our creator, we are made in the image of God. And do we still have Troy and. Oh, I guess we don't. We'll call him back, in just a moment. And so, we'll try to get him back there, Adam and Devin and just let me know when he's back.
Troy Miller: We're seeing some AI replacements for human interactions
But you know, this, this whole debate about replacement of, of human analysis, human contact, even human discipleship, human advice. When we're replacing this with an AI model, don't forget there are people behind AI. I mean AI and all of these, these tech things are only as good as the, the designers and the engineers behind them. This isn't a situation, you know, where AI sort of taking on, you know, a life of itself and you know, the rise of the machines and those types of things. And I'm told we're, we have Troy Miller back. And I want to ask you, you know, as we're seeing some of these replacements, for human interactions, especially you know, counselors, discipleships. I mean even a friend of mine was telling me recently about, his friend who, you know, goes on like a 45 minute walk every night and just talks to AI about, you know, his life and gets, you know, this advice. I mean that is a replacement for a friend, for a counselor, for a pastor. and, and yet there is intelligence behind this. AI isn't its own, doesn't have its own mind. And so, how dangerous is this to the core of, of the human condition in terms of, of how we understand the problem of transhumanism, and, and how we're interacting with this tech and replacing, human cognition.
Troy Miller: Artificial intelligence raises questions about ethics and morality
Troy Miller: Right. And as I was talking about, sorry for the disconnect, but we were talking about, you know, this idea. It's one thing to have this artificial intelligence again to help you do all these tools, but we're building in this artificial humanity into these bots, these algorithms. When you said behind them is not really an intelligence, it's a, it's a set of algorithms, rules and things and predictability that sort of gives this semi quasi intelligence to it. But in the society whose number one problem is loneliness and emptiness, we're really dressing people or People are getting connected to an entity that really can't understand empathy, doesn't understand context, can't really hold sympathy, doesn't have the ability to love. we've seen this in the. In the whole. Recently, some of the lawsuits that were filed, that these bots were built to, be companions. So they were built in such a way that they would always confirm what the other person was, you know, talking about to be more encouraging. And what that did was confirm a lot of young adults right into suicide. and so when we try to play sort of God, thinking that we can create a humanity, I think we're. I think that more than the. The whole idea of this taking over the world, destroyed humanity, the idea of this trying to replace humanity is more dangerous than anything.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah. And. And is there a danger that AI shifts our thinking from technology exists to serve humanity to this idea that humanity then needs to evolve to keep up with technology?
Troy Miller: Yeah. And that's the whole, you know, transhumanism, as you alluded to. The discussion that's going on there is, is what does it even mean to be human? And how does human. How does humanity keep up with this. This technology itself? And I think that's, you know, there's just a lot of dangerous ground we're stepping into that I'm not sure that we ethically or morally really thought through. It reminds me of the line in that first Jurassic park movie, when the character, Jeff Logan's character, was talking about the gene, splicing they were doing. He said, you were so worried whether you could do it, you never thought about whether you should. And are we thinking about what the implications are, the psychological, emotional, social implications are if people are attached to a, virtual entity and abandoned their actual real relationships with other human beings? You know, the Bible, as Christians, we're called to be in fellowship with one another. We're called to be in fellowship with humans that were made in God's image, that we have body, mind and soul, in there. But what happens when we get, attached to a virtual humanity that doesn't have any of those things?
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah. And, And it raises questions. I mean, this isn't just within the AI debate. I mean, as you were speaking, I mean, those questions of whether we should do, you know, some of these advancements. I mean, it's even like in the. In the medical industry. I mean, we talk about all of this problem with, you know, IVF and, and surrogacy and child commodification. You Know, all of those things. Maybe the advances in medical technology allow us to, to mess with, the, the creation of a child. But that doesn't mean that we should, morally or ethically. And so, you know, Genesis 3, begins with the temptation that humanity can become like God. I mean that's, you know, the, the original draw of sin. And do you think there are, Troy Miller, legitimate parallels between that temptation and all of these advancements in the technological movement that promises things like, you know, you can, create a baby with, you know, the eye color you prefer and all, you know, and without defects and commoditizing, you know, overcoming, mortality, biological limits and even, eventual, you know, redesigning of humans.
Troy Miller: And not only the eventual redesigning of humans as you talked about, but we already have this today and the decisions of, you know, what humans should live, what humans should flourish, what humans should not. You know, this is the whole life debate, when does the value of human life end? you know, when you're elderly and those sort of things. We've always tried to. Humanity has had this role of trying to, you know, play God, as you said, that first enticement in the garden and then all the way to the, to, you know, Babel and, and this idea that we have tried to be God, but we are not God and we are far, far short of the ability, to do what God does. and we've seen the kinds of evil and death that this is really brought about to humanity. In the end, every time we try to, to go down that path, it ends up in the same place. It ends up in massive human suffering. and it's really why, Jim, I think the start of this, why the church community and pastors need to be a part of this discussion and they need to understand, what is going on in AI, where it's moving to what some of the vision of some of these companies who are behind these models have. Because there are visions that I could be, quote, a savior of humanity. and it's AI that will save us. And we just know as Christians that's not the case. But if we bury our head in the sand or shy away from it like we've done with some other technologies in the past, I think this is a technology that before we know it, it could be just, ah, destructive on a massive scale in its social, and psychological implications.
Jenna Ellis: Absolutely. I mean, you know, AI could become easily an idol. I mean, not because people literally worship a computer, but because, you know, all of the idols in scripture are replacements and substitutes for God and what belongs to God. And so we're increasingly asking technology to give us knowledge, security, identity, you know, companionship, advice, discipleship, all of these things that we should be seeking from God and also through the relationships that he gives us with human connection.
Christian parents need to be grounding their kids now in a biblical worldview
So in just the last minute or two that we have here, Troy Miller, what should Christian parents be teaching their kids now? So that 10 or 20 years from now they have a biblical anthropology that's strong enough to recognize these differences?
Troy Miller: And that's the key to it. They need to be grounding their kids now in a biblical worldview and a biblical anthropology that helps them understand what's going on in this virtual world. And they really have to talk to, kids today, just like we had to talk to kids about drugs and everything else. We need to talk to them about the dangers of getting attached to these virtual devices and these virtual entities. But I think the key to it is, as you said, parents have to do this. And the key to parents doing it, especially for Christians, is for the church to be involved in this. And the church has to be the place pastors have to be shepherding this and really advising parents that this is an area you have to get into. So all the way across the board.
Jenna Ellis: Troy Miller, I so appreciate your comments. And it's so true. I mean, this is where the civil government can't restrain this totally. It's the church government and the family government primarily that needs to have discipleship in these areas. And we've got to make sure that we protect and preserve this for our kids. As always, you can reach me and my team JennaAFR.net preborn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion. And every day their network clinics rescue 200 babies lives. Will you join PreBorn in loving and supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com afr.
Jenna tackles the pressing issues surrounding immigration fraud and the implications of artificial intelligence in our society. She discusses the recent crackdown on illegal driving schools, the complexities of state versus federal regulations, and the dangerous intersection of AI and child exploitation. Joined by guests like Tho Bishop and Troy Miller, Jenna emphasizes the need for a moral and ethical framework as we navigate these challenges.
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(13:32) Will Bishop says the Trump administration is cracking down on fraudulent drivers
(15:59) Dr. Vladimir Lawrence will testify before House Oversight Task Force on birth tourism
(18:03) Meta's platforms reportedly ran advertisements featuring child sexualized depictions
(24:30) Artificial intelligence raises moral and criminal questions about online advertising
(31:50) 80% of abortion vulnerable women choose life after seeing baby on ultrasound
(33:07) Jenna Ellis: Technology companies should be held accountable for what their products facilitate
(35:10) Are we in danger of looking to technology to protect our children from moral crisis
(39:26) Troy Miller: We're seeing some AI replacements for human interactions
(40:58) Troy Miller: Artificial intelligence raises questions about ethics and morality
(47:45) Christian parents need to be grounding their kids now in a biblical worldview
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