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The US is in the middle of another hotly contested and seemingly close presidential election. This election is also happening in this new age of widespread access to artificial intelligence and easily disseminated misinformation. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon says his office tracked the source of one key piece of election misinformation back to X\u2019s Grok chatbot.<\/p>\n
The Minneapolis Star Tribune<\/em><\/a> reported that X\u2019s premium chatbot service is passing along erroneous information about the deadlines for states\u2019 presidential ballots including Minnesota. When Grok is asked \u201cWhich states\u2019 presidential ballot deadlines have passed?\u201d, Grok claims Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington \u201chave passed their presidential ballots.\u201d Grok then sources its information to an X post published on Sunday by user and conservative pundit @EvanAKilgore<\/a>, which does not include a correction or warning about election misinformation.<\/p>\n In \u201cFun Mode,\u201d Grok repeats the incorrect information and source with the comment, \u201cSo if you\u2019re planning on running for president in one of these states, you might want to check if there\u2019s a write-in option. Or, you know, travel back to before the deadlines passed.\u201d Another response to the same question said \u201cThese states have already passed their deadlines to get on the presidential ballot, which means they’re probably just sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, wondering what to do now that Joe Biden has dropped out. But hey, at least they’ve got their ballots ready to go, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Grok insinuates that President Joe Biden\u2019s name can\u2019t be replaced on these nine states\u2019 ballots because the deadlines have passed. President Biden was the presumptive nominee until he announced he would no longer seek a second term on Sunday. The Democratic Party will choose its nominee through a virtual roll call vote<\/a> ahead of its convention and states don\u2019t start printing ballots until after both conventions. Also, Minnesota’s ballot deadline isn’t until Aug. 26.<\/p>\n Several fact checks from more reputable news outlets refute the claim that Biden\u2019s name is etched into stone on these states\u2019 ballots. Politifact<\/a> rated a similar claim with the same list of nine states as \u201cFalse.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon says members of his staff tried to inform X about the misinformation their chatbot was spreading on its platform but could not reach a media relations representative. The response he says he received was equally concerning.<\/p>\n \u201c[They] got what I can only verbalize as the equivalent of a shoulder shrug,\u201d Simon said to the Star Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n We reached out to X’s press email for comment and only received a reply that read, “Busy now, please check back later.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n