US President Donald Trump unveiled what he called a “damn good” AI chatbot, but it quickly drew attention for contradicting some of his contentious political claims.
The chatbot soon began contradicting Trump on controversial subjects such as the 2020 presidential election, which he wrongly claims to have won, and the January 6, 2021, insurrection that saw a violent mob attacking the US Capitol.
Whatever you need from government, start here,” reads the America.gov platform, which Trump launched on Tuesday in a bid to simplify access to government information and federal services. On Wednesday, however, the chatbot changed its tune when asked the same question. “Hello, America. “Initial analyses found that America.gov generally provided evidence-based answers backed by government records, even when those records contradicted claims made by Trump and his administration. It was unclear whether the Trump administration had tweaked the settings to prevent the chatbot from debunking the president.
“On its first day, America.gov harnessed facts and official documents to contradict some of the false narratives and political framing about immigration and elections heavily promoted by the administration that built it,” said the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas. “Finally, a straight answer from someone in the Trump administration,” Senator Adam Schiff of California wrote on X on Tuesday, alongside a screenshot of the chatbot’s statement that former president Joe Biden had won the 2020 election. “I do not provide political commentary or analysis of past elections,” it said.
