In Iowa, artificial intelligence will compile lists of books banned in schools

The Mason City School Board has decided to use AI to compile lists of banned books in school libraries for the upcoming school year.

The basis for such an unusual decision was Senate File 496 (SF 496), passed by the state legislature and signed by its governor, Kim Reynolds. The document prescribes radical changes to the educational system – including a ban on the use of books containing descriptions of sex scenes in the state’s schools.

Since there may be a lot of such books in school libraries, and it will take a long time to check their compliance with the established criteria, it was decided to entrust this process to AI. To do this, a “base list” is first compiled based on several sources from which complaints about books with questionable content have been received.

These are then placed at the “disposal” of the AI, which, after scanning, makes an appropriate judgment as to whether the book contains sex scenes, which is reported to the state censors.

So far, 19 books have already been placed on the list for removal from Iowa school libraries, including the world-famous novel “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser, a classic of American literature.

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