US government chatbot America.gov stops answering election questions after one day

A US government chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has stopped answering some political questions, just one day after it went live. “Hello, America. Whatever your needs from the government, start here,” we can read on the America.gov platform, which aims to simplify access to government information and federal services.

The American president described the tool as “damn good”. But the chatbot quickly contradicted Donald Trump on certain subjects. So, when asked on Tuesday whether there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, which the current president claims to have won, the chatbot responded: “Official federal assessments conducted after the 2020 presidential election did not find fraud on a scale that would have changed the outcome.”

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“From its first day, America.gov has relied on facts and official documents to contradict some of the false narratives and political interpretations regarding immigration and elections widely relayed by the administration that created it,” notes the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas. “Early analyzes showed that America.gov generally provided evidence-based responses supported by government documents, even when those documents contradicted claims by Trump and his administration,” the institute continues. The chatbot's response regarding the 2020 election was quickly taken up by elected Democrats. “Finally, a clear answer in the Trump administration,” Sen. Adam Schiff wrote Tuesday on X.

Change of answer

But the tone of the tool changed on Wednesday. “I do not provide political commentary or analysis of past elections,” he responded to the same question. However, he continued to refute other contested assertions by Donald Trump, on inflation for example.

It is difficult to know at this stage whether the government has changed the chatbot's settings. “America.gov will continue to be updated to provide Americans with the most accurate and reliable federal information and resources,” the White House said in a statement to AFP.