Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok under fire for spreading election misinformation

Officials urge Musk to ensure Grok provides "true and accurate information" during this critical election year.

Election officials from five states have urged billionaire Elon Musk to prevent his AI chatbot, Grok, from spreading election misinformation on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

The letter, signed by secretaries of state from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington, and New Mexico, demands that Musk “immediately implement changes” to X’s AI search assistant, Grok, to “ensure voters have accurate information in this critical election year.” 

Musk introduced Grok on X last November, presenting it as an unfiltered alternative to other large language models like ChatGPT.

He criticized companies like OpenAI and Google as “woke” for implementing guardrails to address sensitive and controversial topics.

“Please don’t use it if you hate humor!” xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, stated during Grok’s launch.

The secretaries of state expressed concerns about Grok’s role in spreading false information about the 2024 presidential election. 

They cited an incident last month where the chatbot provided incorrect information about ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection. 

Grok falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, had missed the ballot deadline in nine states: Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. 

Many of these states are key battlegrounds that could significantly influence the election outcome.

“This is false,” the letter stated regarding Grok’s claim. 

“In all nine states the opposite is true: The ballots are not closed, and upcoming ballot deadlines would allow for changes to candidates listed on the ballot for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States.”

Grok is currently available only to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers and includes a disclaimer urging users to verify the information it provides. 

Nevertheless, Grok’s misinformation was captured and widely shared in more publicly accessible posts, reaching millions, according to the secretaries of state. 

The erroneous information was only corrected 10 days later.

“As tens of millions of voters in the U.S. seek basic information about voting in this major election year, X has the responsibility to ensure all voters using your platform have access to guidance that reflects true and accurate information about their constitutional right to vote,” the letter, first obtained by The Washington Post, stated.

The secretaries of state recommended that X implement a policy directing Grok users seeking information about U.S. elections to “CanIVote.org,” a nonpartisan resource managed by professional election administrators from both Democratic and Republican parties. 

OpenAI partnered with the secretaries of state earlier this year to provide more accurate election information, and ChatGPT is already programmed to direct users to the website for election-related queries. 

A spokesperson for X did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment, sending an automatic reply saying, “Busy now, please check back later.”

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who spearheaded the letter, criticized the company’s delayed response to Grok’s misinformation as “the equivalent of a shoulder shrug.”

“It’s important that social media companies, especially those with global reach, correct mistakes of their own making – as in the case of the Grok AI chatbot simply getting the rules wrong,” Simon told the Post. 

“Speaking out now will hopefully reduce the risk that any social media company will decline or delay correction of its own mistakes between now and the November election.”