X’s Grok chatbot now directs election queries to Vote.gov

Misinformation is all around the web, together with the — at instances — chaos that’s X (previously Twitter). AI bots have a behavior of including to it. Now, with barely two months left till the presidential election, an replace to Grok, X’s premium chatbot, may curve a few of it (after being referred to as out for mentioned election misinformation). Grok will now direct anybody with an election-related query to Vote.org, a non-partisan web site operated via a partnership between the US authorities, the US Election Help Fee and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company.

The catalyst for change got here on July 21, solely hours after President Biden introduced his resolution to not search reelection, when Grok falsely posted that the ballot deadline had passed in nine states, implying officers could not change the democratic candidate. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon had workers try and contact X concerning the error, to which they obtained the response, “Busy now, please verify again later.” Grok continued to share the response for ten days.

Secretary Simon joined the Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington Secretaries of State — all states wrongly named by Grok — in writing an open letter to X and xAI CEO Elon Musk calling for Grok to direct any election queries to CanIVote.org, one other non-partisan useful resource. They claimed Grok’s response, although solely accessible to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers, reached “tens of millions of individuals” resulting from screenshots and shares.

The letter additionally shamed Grok and xAI a bit additional, explaining how its competitor, OpenAI, had teamed up with the Nationwide Affiliation of Secretaries of State to supply correct, up-to-date election info. It additionally talked about that OpenAI’s bot, ChatGPT, was already programmed to direct customers to CanIVote.org if it obtained questions concerning the US election.

The replace is a begin. The bot has additionally created misleading images of the highest celebration candidates. “We admire X’s motion to enhance their platform and hope they proceed to make enhancements that can guarantee their customers have entry to correct info from trusted sources on this vital election yr,” the Secretaries of State mentioned in response to the replace. “Elections are a group effort, and we’d like and welcome any companions who’re dedicated to making sure free, honest, safe, and correct elections.”