Elon Musk’s Grok, an AI-powered chatbot on X (formerly Twitter), has been at the center of controversy for spreading misleading information about Vice President Kamala Harris. This issue came to light following a significant error by Grok regarding U.S. presidential ballot deadlines. This controversy emerged just days after Elon Musk alleged that Google had done the same thing to Trump.
On July 21, shortly after President Joe Biden announced the suspension of his presidential campaign, Grok began providing incorrect information about the deadlines for listing candidates on the 2024 U.S. presidential ballots. Specifically, Grok erroneously claimed that the deadlines had passed in nine states—Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington—when in fact, these deadlines had not yet expired. This misinformation was widely disseminated before it was corrected on July 31.
The response
The situation prompted an urgent response from five U.S. secretaries of state, who collectively wrote an open letter to Elon Musk, CEO of X.
The letter was signed by:
- Steve Simon of Minnesota
- Al Schmidt of Pennsylvania
- Steve Hobbs of Washington
- Jocelyn Benson of Michigan
- Maggie Toulouse Oliver of New Mexic
These officials criticized Grok’s accuracy and called on Musk to implement immediate changes to the chatbot to ensure that it provides correct information, especially given the critical nature of election-related data.
Although Grok includes a disclaimer urging users to verify information, the false claims about ballot deadlines were widely shared and repeated across X.
Adding to the controversy, Musk has been criticized for his own handling of misinformation. He recently reshared a video that falsely used AI to clone Vice President Harris’s voice, making her appear to admit to being a “diversity hire” and lacking knowledge about running the country. Musk also made provocative statements, including suggesting that “civil war is inevitable” in response to riots in the U.K., which has led to criticism from global leaders.
Featured image credit: Eray Eliaçık/Bing
