Generative AI, in its most basic form, is “trained on vast amounts of data,” according to Ryan Bangert, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Alliance Defending Freedom. “It ingests petabytes of information in order to learn how human language works, in order to understand how it is that human syntax grammar is structured, and then it predicts what comes next.”

Generative AI is “not a mind, it’s not a consciousness, it’s not a human being,” Bangert says. “It’s a piece of software, a very complex piece of software, that’s fulfilling an algorithmic function.”

Therefore, he adds, generative AI is “not a First Amendment rights-bearing entity.”

In their new paper, “The Ghost in the Machine: How Generative AI Will Test the Bounds of the First Amendment,” Bangert and Jeremy Tedesco, senior vice president of corporate engagement at Alliance Defending Freedom, parse the relationship between AI and the First Amendment.

Bangert and Tedesco join “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the fight to protect free speech amid rapidly changing AI technology use.

Listen to the podcast below:

About 1,200 Israelis were killed Oct. 7 during Hamas’ terrorist attack exactly one year ago, a rampage of rape, torture, and murder in southern Israel. The terrorists took another 240 as hostages.

Hostage negotiations remain stalled, with little progress in recent weeks.

An Israeli-American hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was murdered in the Gaza Strip about a month ago after enduring 11 months in captivity. His body was recovered in Gaza.

The bodies of three other Americans—Itay Chen, Judy Weinstein, and Gad Haggai—also are believed to be in Gaza.

Some details on the four Americans believed to be alive:

Edan Alexander

Alexander, now 20, was born in Tel Aviv but grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. He was serving in Israeli’s Golani Brigade when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel. Alexander spoke to his mother on the morning of the attack and told her he was safe; shortly thereafter, his parents were unable to reach him.

Sagui Dekel-Chen

On Oct. 7, Dekel-Chen was living in Kibbutz Nir Oz with his wife and two daughters. He was busy at work that morning when he saw Hamas terrorists entering the kibbutz.

Dekel-Chen climbed onto the roof of the Kibbutz’s communal dining room to issue a warning before running home to his family. Finding them in a bomb shelter, he went back into the kibbutz to fight off the terrorists.

He was one of about 80 residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz to be taken hostage that day.

Dekel-Chen’s third daughter was born during his captivity.

Omer Neutra

Neutra was born in New York City in 2001. After high school, Neutra took a gap year and participated in a leadership program in Israel.

After a year there, Neutra decided to join the Israel Defense Forces and became a tank commander. On Oct. 7, he was serving close to Israel’s border with Gaza.

Neutra’s tank was found empty shortly after the terrorist attack.

Keith Siegel

Siegel and his wife were taken from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7. Aviva Siegel was released Nov. 26, but her husband remains a hostage in Gaza.

Siegel, 65, is originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He and his wife hid in their safe room during the Hamas attack, but terrorists found them and took them from their home.

Aviva Siegel said terrorists shoved her husband, breaking his ribs, and shot him in the hand.

As Israelis and Americans mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, Yael Eckstein, president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, sits down with The Daily Signal.

In the interview, Eckstein talks about how the day will be remembered in Israel and what life has been like in the Jewish state since the attack.