OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs co-signed a letter with four other secretaries of state asking X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk to crack down on election disinformation spread by the website's AI assistant, Grok.
The letter called on Musk to make immediate changes to the AI to ensure that voters receive accurate information during "this critical election year."
"What we would like Elon Musk to do is just simply follow the guidelines that he has on his social media platform," Hobbs told KING 5. "There's just too much disinformation out there and it would be nice if social media platforms would tighten up their rules."
The disinformation in question occurred after President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election in late July. X's AI search assistant, Grok, posted that the ballot deadline had already passed in multiple states, including Washington, New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, among others - meaning there could not be changes to the candidate line-up and the new nominee, Kamala Harris, would not appear.
However, in truth, the ballot deadline for each state Grok listed had not already passed, and changes to the candidate line-up could still occur in time for Harris, and her newly announced running-mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to be added.
The letter noted that Grok continued to repeat the false information about ballot deadlines for over a week before a correction finally came on July 31.
The letter noted that other AI chatbots have committed to pointing voters toward websites that contain accurate voting information if prompted. ChatGPT is programmed to direct users to CanIVote.org when asked election-related questions.
"As tens of millions of voters in the U.S. seek basic information about voting in this major election year, X has the responsibility to ensure all voters using your platform have access to guidance that reflects true and accurate information about their constitutional right to vote," the letter reads. "We urge X to immediately adopt a policy of directing Grok users to CanIVote.org when asked about elections in the U.S."
Hobbs is also sounding the alarm about election disinformation in general, pointing to a deepfake of Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris that Elon Musk himself reposted online, and a warning from the director of national intelligence that the feds expect Russian interference in the November election.
"Don't forget, it's not just the presidential elections, it's all the way down to local elections," Hobbs said.
He invited anyone with questions about this year's election to seek out information from the Secretary of State's Office.
"Go right to the source."