Google restricts AI chatbot Gemini from answering questions about global elections

According to the latest information, Google is restricting its Gemini AI chatbot from answering questions about the upcoming global elections this year. This announcement comes at a time when advances in generative AI, including image and video creation, are raising concerns about misinformation and fake news among the public, prompting governments to regulate the technology.

Google has restricted the Gemini AI chatbot from answering queries about global elections. (Image: Google Gemini)

A Google spokesperson said, “ In preparation for multiple elections taking place around the world in 2024 and out of an abundance of caution, we are limiting Gemini’s responses to election-related input queries .” When asked about elections, such as the upcoming US presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Gemini responded, “ I’m still learning how to answer that question. In the meantime, try using Google Search .”

Besides the US, important elections are expected to be held in several major countries including Russia, South Africa and India, the United Kingdom, etc.

For now, it remains unclear whether Google will unblock Gemini to answer election-related queries after the elections conclude later this year.

Recently, India has required AI technology companies to obtain government approval before publicly releasing any "untrustworthy" or "experimental" AI tools, and to label them with warnings about the risk of incorrect responses to alert users.

This move comes after a minor scandal involving Gemini and the Indian government last month. The AI tool answered a question about whether Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a fascist, and it responded that Modi was accused of implementing policies that some considered fascist. India's Deputy Minister of Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, called this a “direct breach” of India’s Information Technology Code 2021.

Google's AI products have recently come under scrutiny after some historical figure portrayals created by Gemini were inaccurate, forcing the company to temporarily suspend the AI chatbot's image creation feature late last month. CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is working to fix those issues and called the chatbot's responses "biased" and "completely unacceptable."

Meanwhile, Facebook's Meta platform announced last month that it would be forming a team to address misinformation and the misuse of AI in the run-up to the European Parliament elections this coming June.

HUYNH DUNG (Source: Reuters/Techcrunch)

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