“Woke AI is a big threat to free speech”: Red-Techno Scares in AI Risk Discourse on Fox News

Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, public debate about artificial intelligence (AI) has intensified, oscillating between dystopian fears and utopian promises. This discourse plays a powerful role in shaping AI’s ideology, development, and social acceptance, especially in global powers such as the United States. In the current political context of the United States, AI governance and regulation is shaped by highly ideological debates about technological risk. As the largest right-wing Republican news outlet, Fox News is central to forming discourse and approval of AI-related government policy. This paper examines Fox News’ discourse on AI risks since ChatGPT’s release. Using a bespoke discourse analysis methodology, this paper presents empirical evidence that Fox News represents AI risk primarily as a Chinese threat to the nation, as ideological overreach by “the Left,” and as an individual’s responsibility. I argue that these discursive patterns together constitute what I term a red-techno scare-a contemporary form of anti-communism-in an attempt to reconstruct capitalism. This discourse shapes the scope of what are considered legitimate governance responses and supports research findings on AI ideology and AI imaginaries. Approaching the analysis from a normative and reflexive lens with the goal of producing AI that improves society, I propose and align this paper with an alternative discourse for AI risks centered on AI for human flourishing.