Google’s AI Can’t Say Exactly How Much NPR/PBS Get in Taxpayer Dollars—Because NPR/PBS Won’t
11th June 2025
Google may be NPR and PBS’s partners in crime, but even the tech giant’s AI chatbot Gemini can’t run cover for the leftist outlets’ taxpayer-funded shell game.
On Friday, Gemini gave inconsistent information in response to MRC Free Speech America’s questions about how much taxpayer dollars, both federal and state, NPR receives. Is it one, four or 10 percent of NPR’s total budget? Gemini claimed it is all of the above. Apparently, NPR’s funding is a multiple-choice mystery.
“The amount NPR and PBS receive in taxpayer dollars is as closely guarded a secret as Google’s algorithm,” said MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider. “That’s precisely why Google AI Gemini can’t say exactly how much the two leftist outlets receive in taxpayer dollars—because NPR and PBS won’t say.”
Gemini’s conflicting answer was unsurprising, since it nearly exclusively relied on none other than NPR as a source. NPR has never clearly broken down its total taxpayer funding, including money from federal and state governments and member stations, which receive taxpayer dollars through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.