X fixes AI chatbot after secretary of state complains about spreading false election information • Washington State Standard

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon announced Monday that X (formerly Twitter) had made changes to its artificial intelligence-based chatbot Grok after several secretaries of state wrote letters to X complaining about the chatbot's spread of false election information.

Simon said in a statement that X informed his office last week that Grok would now redirect users asking election-related questions to vote.gov, the federal government's nonpartisan voting website. Earlier this month, Simon initiated a letter to Elon Musk — the billionaire and Trump-supporting owner of X — asking him to make changes to the AI ​​chatbot to ensure voters receive accurate information this election cycle.

In the letter, Simon – along with Secretaries of State Al Schmidt of Pennsylvania, Jocelyn Benson of Michigan, Steve Hobbs of Washington and Maggie Toulouse Oliver of New Mexico – said that within hours of President Joe Biden's announcement last month that he would not run for re-election, Grok produced false headlines saying Vice President Kamala Harris could not be on the presidential ballot in several states.

Grok falsely claimed that in some states, deadlines to change ballots had passed and officials were unable to change the candidates listed on the ballots.

Although Grok is only available to X-Premium subscribers, the secretaries say the election misinformation spread by Grok reached millions of people. The AI ​​chatbot repeated the misinformation for over a week until it was corrected on July 31, the letter said.

In a joint statement on Monday, the secretaries thanked X for the changes to Grok.

“We appreciate X's actions to improve their platform and hope they continue to make improvements that ensure their users have access to accurate information from trusted sources during this crucial election year,” the secretaries said. “Elections are a team effort and we need and welcome all partners who are committed to free, fair, secure, and accurate elections.”

Musk launched Grok last year as an “anti-woke” chatbot, according to the Washington Post, and he said he wanted his AI tool to “answer tricky questions that most other AI systems reject.”

X did not immediately respond to the reformer Please comment on the changes made to Grok.

This article was first published by the Minnesota Reformer, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) nonprofit organization. Minnesota Reformer maintains its editorial independence. If you have any questions, contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican: [email protected]. Follow Minnesota Reformer on Facebook and X.