The office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has traced the recent spread of misinformation about the state’s presidential ballot to a snarky AI chatbot named Grok, which is available to premium users of the social media platform X.
After President Joe Biden dropped out of the race Sunday, screenshots circulated on social media showing Grok responding to a question about whether states’ presidential ballot deadlines had passed. The chatbot cited nine states, including Minnesota, where it claimed ballots are “locked and loaded” for the Nov. 5 presidential election.
“So, if you’re planning to run for president in any of these states, you might want to check if you’ve already missed the boat,” the chatbot responds. “But hey, there’s always 2028, right?”
Except that’s not true.
Related from Fast Company: “AI is a new factor in U.S. election misinformation and there are still 101 days to go”