CHICAGO (AP) — Social media platform X has made a change to its AI chatbot after five secretaries of state warned that the platform was spreading election misinformation.
Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington sent a letter to Elon Musk this month complaining that the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, had produced incorrect information about state voting deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race.
The secretaries of state asked the chatbot to direct users asking questions about the election to CanIVote.org, a voting information website operated by the National Association of Secretaries of State.
Before the chatbot answers questions about the election, it now says, “For accurate and up-to-date information about the 2024 U.S. elections, visit Vote.gov.”
Both websites are “trustworthy resources that can connect voters with their local election officials,” the five secretaries of state said in a joint statement.
“We appreciate X’s action to improve their platform and hope they continue to make improvements to ensure their users have access to accurate information from trusted sources in this crucial election year,” the spokespeople said.
Grok is only available to subscribers of X’s premium versions. But the five undersecretaries of state who signed the letter said Grok’s election disinformation was shared across multiple social media platforms and reached millions of people. Grok continued to repost the false information for 10 days before correcting it, the undersecretaries said. The platform did not respond to a request for comment.
The change, which promotes a link to an official voting website, does not appear to address Grok’s ability to create misleading AI-generated images related to elections. People have used the tool to flood the platform with fake images of candidates including Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Grok debuted last year for X Premium and Premium Plus subscribers and was touted by Musk as a “rebellious” AI chatbot that will “answer tough questions that most other AI systems would reject.”
Social media platforms have come under increasing scrutiny for their role in spreading misinformation, including about elections. The letter also warned that inaccuracies are to be expected for AI products, particularly chatbots like Grok that rely on large language models.
Since Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and changed its name to X, watchdog groups have raised concerns about the rise of hate speech and misinformation on the platform, and there have been layoffs of content-moderating staff.
Experts say the moves represent a step backward from the progress social media platforms made in their efforts to better combat political disinformation after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and could worsen the disinformation landscape ahead of this November’s election.
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