Five secretaries of state sent a letter to Elon Musk Monday imploring him to fix X's AI chatbot after it shared misinformation about the 2024 presidential election.
Why it matters: Experts have long warned about the threat of AI-driven misinformation, which is more salient than ever as the election heats up and voters are susceptible to lies about the candidates or voting process.
Driving the news: Secretaries of state from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and New Mexico told Musk that X's AI chatbot, Grok, had produced and circulated "false information on ballot deadlines" shortly after President Biden withdrew from the 2024 race, according to the letter, obtained by Axios.
- The chatbot wrongly told social media users that Vice President Kamala Harris had missed the ballot deadline in nine states: Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and Washington.
- It said Harris wasn't eligible to appear on the ballot in those states in place of Biden. "This is false. In all nine states the opposite is true," the letter stated.
- The secretaries of state urged Musk to "immediately implement changes" to Grok "to ensure voters have accurate information in this critical election year," per the letter, which was first reported by the Washington Post."
