A new artificial intelligence chatbot launched by the US government has stopped answering some political questions after initially producing responses that contradicted claims made by President Donald Trump and his administration.
The chatbot, part of the America.gov platform unveiled by Trump on Tuesday, was designed to help Americans access government information and federal services.
On its first day, the chatbot reportedly gave evidence-based responses on contentious issues, including the 2020 presidential election and immigration.
When asked whether widespread voter fraud had changed the outcome of the 2020 election, it initially responded that official federal assessments found no fraud on a scale capable of altering the result.
It also identified former President Joe Biden as the winner of the election, prompting Democratic lawmakers to share screenshots of the responses on social media.
However, when the same question was put to the chatbot on Wednesday, it gave a different response.
“I do not provide political commentary or analysis of past elections,” it said.
The change prompted questions over whether the Trump administration had altered the chatbot’s settings to prevent it from addressing issues on which its responses conflicted with the President’s claims.
The White House did not directly address whether the chatbot’s settings had been changed.
“America.gov will continue to be updated to provide Americans the most accurate and reliable federal information and resources,” a White House official told AFP.
The chatbot continued to challenge some claims associated with Trump.
Asked whether the United States experienced its highest-ever inflation under former President Joe Biden, it rejected the assertion, citing official Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The chatbot said the official data did not support the claim that the US experienced its “worst inflation ever” between 2021 and 2025.
The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas said its initial analysis found that the chatbot generally relied on government records and evidence-based information, even when those records conflicted with statements from Trump and his administration.
The development comes amid growing global concerns over the risks associated with artificial intelligence and calls from some technology leaders for greater caution in the development of the technology.
Trump has previously dismissed such concerns, arguing that they could undermine US economic growth and the country’s competition with China.
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