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US government's new AI chatbot pulls back from debunking Trump / Photo: © AFP
US government's new AI chatbot pulls back from debunking Trump
US President Donald Trump unveiled what he called a "damn good" AI chatbot, but it quickly drew attention for contradicting some of his contentious political claims.
A day later, however, it stopped answering some political questions.
"Hello, America. Whatever you need from government, start here," reads the America.gov platform, which Trump launched on Tuesday in a bid to simplify access to government information and federal services.
The chatbot soon began contradicting Trump on controversial subjects such as the 2020 presidential election, which he wrongly claims to have won, and the January 6, 2021 insurrection that saw a violent mob attacking the US Capitol.
"On its first day, America.gov harnessed facts and official documents to contradict some of the false narratives and political framing about immigration and elections heavily promoted by the administration that built it," said the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas.
"Initial analyses found that America.gov generally provided evidence-based answers backed by government records, even when those records contradicted claims made by Trump and his administration."
On Tuesday, when asked whether there had been widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, the chatbot responded: "Official federal assessments after the 2020 presidential election did not find fraud at a scale that changed the outcome."
Democratic lawmakers quickly promoted the chatbot's responses about the election.
"Finally, a straight answer from someone in the Trump administration," Senator Adam Schiff of California wrote on X on Tuesday, alongside a screenshot of the chatbot's statement that former president Joe Biden had won the 2020 election.
But on Wednesday, the chatbot changed its tune when asked the same question. "I do not provide political commentary or analysis of past elections," it said.
It was unclear whether the Trump administration had tweaked the settings to prevent the chatbot from debunking the president. The White House did not immediately weigh in.
"America.gov will continue to be updated to provide Americans the most accurate and reliable federal information and resources," the White House said in a statement to US media.
The chatbot, however, continued to debunk some of Trump's other claims on Wednesday.
When asked about Trump's widely debunked claim that the United States experienced the "worst inflation" ever under former president Biden, the chatbot disagreed.
"No. Official Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) data do not show the highest US inflation on record during 2021–2025."
"'Worst inflation ever' is not supported by the official CPI record."
The launch of the new government platform comes as growing cyber incidents have raised concerns around the world about risks posed by uncontrollable AI, with some tech executives urging a slow-down for safety.
Trump has dismissed those concerns as a conspiracy to undermine US economic growth and hamper competition with China.
Y. Machado--JDB
