The social media platform X has updated its AI chatbot following concerns raised by five secretaries of state who warned that it was spreading misinformation about elections.
Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington sent a letter to Elon Musk earlier this month, expressing concern that the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, had provided incorrect information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
In their letter, the secretaries of state requested that the chatbot direct users seeking election-related information to CanIVote.org, a voting resource managed by the National Association of Secretaries of State.
As a result of the concerns, the chatbot now prefaces its responses to election-related inquiries with the statement: “For accurate and up-to-date information about the 2024 U.S. Elections, please visit Vote.gov.”
In a joint statement, the five secretaries of state acknowledged that both CanIVote.org and Vote.gov are “reliable sources that can connect voters with their local election officials.”
“We appreciate X’s efforts to improve their platform and hope they will continue making enhancements to ensure their users have access to accurate information from trusted sources during this critical election year,” they stated.
Grok, which is only available to premium subscribers of X, was reportedly responsible for spreading election misinformation across various social media platforms, reaching millions of people before the errors were corrected 10 days later. The platform did not provide a response to requests for comment.
While the new link to an official voting website is a positive step, concerns remain about Grok’s potential to generate misleading AI-created images related to elections. Users have exploited the tool to flood the platform with fake images of political figures, including Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Grok was launched last year for X premium and premium plus subscribers and was promoted by Musk as a “rebellious” AI chatbot designed to tackle “spicy questions that most other AI systems avoid.”
Social media platforms continue to face scrutiny for their role in spreading misinformation, particularly regarding elections. The letter from the secretaries of state also highlighted that inaccuracies are common in AI products, especially in chatbots like Grok, which rely on large language models.
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022 and its rebranding as X, watchdog groups have raised concerns over the increase in hate speech and misinformation on the platform, as well as reductions in the staff responsible for content moderation.
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Experts suggest these developments could represent a setback from the progress social media platforms had made in combating political disinformation following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, potentially leading to a worsening landscape of misinformation ahead of this year’s November elections.
