X vows to fix AI chatbot after it spread disinformation about US election
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has modified its chatbot Grok after receiving calls from election officials in five US states to ensure the information it disseminates is accurate.
The move comes after Grok falsely claimed that the deadline for voting had passed in nine states, meaning the candidate options were set for the November 2024 US presidential election. This is especially alarming given that this followed the announcement confirming that President Joe Biden would abandon his presidential bid, with Kamala Harris securing the Democratic nomination.
Grok has now been modified to direct users to the independent election information site Vote.gov in response to related questions, which protesting officials say is a “reliable source.”
Gross election misinformation
The 2024 election cycle has not been unfamiliar with disinformation so far, with AI-generated content takes the top spot for the instigator of ‘fake news’.
One reason for this is that Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained on a large amount of online data, with no process to filter out false information. This essentially means that they can learn facts that are not true.
The amendment did not stop Grok generate misleading images and use the likenesses of real people in questionable ways upon request. Musk has introduced the chatbot as “rebellious,” boasting of its ability to “answer tough questions that most other AI systems reject.” Controversial examples of the AI’s creations include depictions of celebrities doing drugs and holding guns—it’s a real mystery that other chatbots reject these requests.
Grok is currently only available to X premium subscribers, but the images can be shared with anyone. The site has continued to raise concerns among watchdog groups, as hate speech and misinformation campaigns have flourished since Musk took over the platform in 2022.
Via AP News
