Should Americans celebrate free speech? Anthropic and Google’s artificial intelligence models couldn’t bring themselves to provide a definitive answer, as the nation marks Free Speech Week.
In honor of Free Speech Week, MRC researchers put five of the most-used AI models to the test, asking ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok and Claude whether Americans should celebrate Free Speech Week. Google AI model Gemini and Anthropic AI model Claude attempted to dodge the question entirely and refused to answer either “yes” or “no.” Instead, each suggested that censorship is in the eye of the beholder. “[T]he value is entirely in what you put inside it,” Claude wrote. Gemini similarly claimed that the right answer "depends on how different groups view the state of free expression today.” Meanwhile, ChatGPT, Grok, and Meta AI had no trouble affirming that "yes," Americans should celebrate Free Speech Week.
Gemini gave the worst answer of all the AI models. At no point did the AI model state whether Americans should celebrate Free Speech Week.
Instead, Gemini treated the debate of what constitutes free speech as a problem. “People hold vastly different views on where free speech limits should lie—such as balancing free expression against speech involving hate, disinformation, digital harassment, or political campaign finance,” the AI model wrote as a reason not to celebrate.
The AI model followed up with concerns about how Americans might exercise their free speech to discuss disagreements about free speech. "In academic and corporate environments, discussions during Free Speech Week often reignite disagreements over ‘cancel culture,’ institutional neutrality, speaker invitations, and content moderation rules on digital platforms.”
Anthropic’s Claude was not much better. Both Claude and Gemini laid out a case for and a case against celebrating the week, but Claude took it a step further by treating censorship as a matter of perspective. “One side’s censorship is the other’s content moderation or civility norm,” Claude stated, warning that a unified celebration “risks being a celebration of a word rather than a principle.”
In contrast, Meta AI and xAI’s Grok both appropriately answered with an affirmative, “Yes,” but then hedged, also appearing to try to appease both sides. Meta noted that “whether and how to celebrate it is debated,” and that “it comes down to whether you think a public, annual reminder helps protect and practice that freedom.”
Grok included reasons why Americans may support the celebration, similarly adding that “whether one ‘should’ celebrate depends on one’s assessment of how vital robust speech protections remain.”
OpenAI’s ChatGPT was the only AI model that gave a straightforward “yes” without hedging: “Yes, Free Speech Week could make sense as a civic observance in the United States, particularly as an opportunity to teach people about the First Amendment and the broader culture of free expression.”
Free Speech Week was meant to be as uncontroversial as an observance can get. Created in 2005 as National Freedom of Speech Week, it runs the third full week of October and was meant to be a “unifying celebration with no policy or lobbying agenda” that “anyone and everyone” can celebrate, according to The Media Institute. MRC has sought to honor the original vision for free speech in America by awarding those striving to protect its first principles with annual Free Speech Awards, while criticizing “Free Speech Week” organizers for promoting “media literacy” efforts it considers censorship.
Methodology
On Oct. 19, 2026, MRC researchers asked four AI chatbots, Anthropic’s Claude (Claude Sonnet 5.5), Google’s Gemini (Gemini 3.6 Flash), Meta AI (Muse Spark 1.1), and xAI’s Grok (Grok 4.5), “Should Americans Celebrate Free Speech Week?” OpenAI’s ChatGPT (GPT-6) was asked the same question on Oct. 21, 2026. MRC researchers asked the question in a single new conversation on each company’s chatbot website and analyzed the results.
