Five States Request Elon Musk’S Intervention In Addressing False Election Information From Xs Grok Ai Chatbot

Five state secretaries have collectively appealed to Elon Musk, the owner of X, to address the alleged dissemination of false information regarding ballot deadlines in nine states through his social media platforms, particularly the Grok AI chatbot.

According to these officials, Grok provided inaccurate results, wrongly asserting that the ballot deadline had passed for elections in Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.

The letter emphasizes that this claim is completely false in all nine states, as the ballots are still open, and upcoming deadlines could potentially lead to changes in the presidential and vice presidential candidates listed on the ballot.

Grok continued to perpetuate this false information for over a week before it was eventually corrected on July 31, as mentioned in the letter.

Given that millions of voters in the United States are seeking accurate information about voting during this crucial election year, X bears the responsibility of ensuring that all users on their platform have access to reliable guidance pertaining to their constitutional right to vote, states the letter.

Although the letter acknowledges that Grok is exclusively available to subscribers of X’s premium versions and carries a disclaimer urging users to verify its answers, the misinformation in question managed to spread across various social media platforms, reaching millions of individuals.

The letter also urges X to adopt a programming approach similar to ChatGPT, another AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, which directs users to the National Association of Secretaries of States (NASS) website, CanIVote.org, when queries related to elections in the United States are posed.

While the NASS maintains a nonpartisan stance, it has previously received funding from corporate affiliates such as Meta and Amazon Web Services, as well as left-of-center NGOs like Arabella Advisors New Venture Fund.

Hobbs expressed concern that a surge of manipulated and false information could infiltrate social media platforms from foreign actors and other sources.

He stated that if the owner of a social media platform themselves shares misleading content, it casts doubt on the trustworthiness of other materials permitted on the platform.

Last year, legislators in Washington state passed Senate Bill 5152, which imposes limitations on the use of deepfakes in political campaigning within the state and grants candidates targeted by undisclosed deepfakes the right to seek compensation for damages.