Would a love letter mean the same if you knew it was written by a robot?

What about a law?

Republicans are asking similar questions in their investigations into former President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen — an automatic signature machine that the former president used to sign a number of clemency orders near the end of his term.

Trump and his allies claim that Biden’s use of the autopen may have been unlawful and indicative of the former president’s cognitive decline. If Biden had to offload the work of signing the orders to a machine, then how can we know he actually approved of what was signed? And if Biden wasn’t approving these orders, then who was?

It is unclear what the outcomes of these investigations will be. More importantly, however, these probes get at a larger concern around how different kinds of communication can lose their meanings when robots or AI enter the mix.

Presidents have used the autopen for various purposes (including signing bills into law) for decades. In fact, the prevalence of the autopen highlights how, today, a presidential signature represents more than just ink on paper — it symbolizes a long process of deliberation and approval that often travels through various different aides and assistants.

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