Sarah Rogers: Free Speech, AI Diplomacy, and What America Owes Its Allies

Sarah Rogers, the State Department’s Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, has turned the agency’s digital strategy on its head. After inheriting a unit that once filed content‑removal requests with Twitter and Meta, she now leads a Digital Freedom Office that prioritizes transparency, truth‑seeking, and the restoration of free expression abroad. Rogers frames public diplomacy as the United States’ relationship with foreign publics, encompassing Fulbright exchanges, rapid media response, and, crucially, the information environment where internet freedom shapes global perceptions. By championing uncensored speech, she positions digital liberty as a core national‑security asset.

Rogers repeatedly stresses that a Western‑born AI stack is the United States’ most potent soft‑power tool. Economist Tyler Cowen’s phrase ‘AI with a Western soul’—an architecture that respects individual consent, rule‑based governance, and democratic values—underpins this vision. The EU’s recent enforcement actions illustrate the tension: a former European Commission official warned Elon Musk that allowing former President Trump to speak on X could trigger a €120 million (≈ $130 million) fine under separate transparency rules. Such cross‑border liability threatens American platforms and underscores why the administration urges allies to adopt free‑speech‑friendly regulations rather than punitive censorship regimes.

U.S. legal pillars such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the Fair Use doctrine remain critical shields for AI developers. Courts have affirmed that training large language models on copyrighted works constitutes fair use, preserving innovation while respecting creators’ rights. Rogers warns that foreign statutes demanding exhaustive risk‑assessments or criminal liability for merely “harmful” AI output would erode these protections and hand adversaries a strategic advantage. She advises tech firms to champion transparent provenance tools, support circumvention VPNs, and engage diplomatically with allies to shape balanced AI regulations that safeguard free expression, national security, and America’s competitive edge.