Elon Musk's AI Chatbot Faces Backlash for Spreading Misinformation About Elections

Lawmakers recently addressed Elon Musk regarding urgent updates needed for the AI chatbot Grok. The chatbot circulated misinformation about Kamala Harris, suggesting she couldn't replace President Biden due to ballot deadlines passing. Five secretaries of state penned a letter to Musk, urging modifications to Grok and its underlying model to prevent further spread of misinformation. Steve Simon of Minnesota led this initiative, joined by Al Schmidt of Pennsylvania and Maggie Toulouse Oliver of New Mexico, emphasizing the importance of accurate voter information during this crucial election year.

The response from Musk's social media platform to the erroneous post was lackluster, taking a week to rectify it after it was fact-checked by Reuters. Contrary to Grok's claim, voters actually had until August 7 to confirm their vote, well after Biden withdrew from the race. Grok is exclusively available to X Premium subscribers and boasts a more provocative demeanor compared to OpenAI's ChatGPT, with fewer safeguards.

Despite only being accessible by X subscribers, the inaccurate Grok post was widely shared, reaching millions of people. Lawmakers stressed the necessity for social media platforms with global reach to promptly correct their mistakes, especially in matters related to elections. They called on Grok's developers, xAI, to redirect users to CanIVote.org for accurate election information. In contrast, rival OpenAI has taken proactive measures to prevent misinformation dissemination, unlike X and Grok developers xAI.

Elon Musk's affiliation with the GOP is well-documented, evident in his recent launch of the America PAC to support Donald Trump's re-election. Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's secretary of state, also signed the lawmakers' letter and is examining Musk's super PAC over claims of unauthorized personal data collection on its website.