In response to the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election, Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has made a series of adjustments to its AI tool Grok to deal with possible disinformation and election interference. This move stems from the misinformation that Grok had previously spread, which caused concerns among many US secretaries of state. They wrote to Musk, requesting that Grok be improved to ensure the accuracy of the information. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of the measures taken by X platform to deal with election interference, as well as the resulting controversy and subsequent developments.
Recently, Musk's social media platform X (formerly Twitter) made an important change in order to combat information chaos during the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Multiple U.S. secretaries of state, including those in Minnesota, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington state, made requests to Musk to update Grok AI to avoid spreading disinformation about the election.
The secretaries of state said in a press release this week that Answer it yourself. The measure was endorsed by the officials, who said: "We appreciate Platform X's initiative and hope they will continue to improve to ensure users get accurate information from trusted sources."
The incident began when Grok AI falsely claimed that ballot deadlines in nine states had passed after U.S. President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race, preventing the Democratic Party from replacing its candidate. The misinformation was widely shared on social platforms and had widespread impact, prompting secretaries of state to express concern and wrote to Musk in early August noting the issue.
While Grok didn't fully follow their advice, it was progress to see Musk back down. The secretaries of state further emphasized that election rules and procedures vary widely from state to state and that voters should obtain relevant information from local election officials and that websites like vote.gov and CanIVote.org are trusted resources.
Musk has faced increasing pressure recently as information he posted on the X platform was seen as interference that could influence the election. Since Musk took over X, misinformation and hate speech have flourished on the platform, causing advertisers to flee. As the 2024 presidential election approaches, the U.S. government is confident in the security of election technology, but false information has still become the focus of government officials.
In addition, some Democratic lawmakers have also requested that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate the false images generated by Grok to determine whether they constitute accountable fraud. Representative Shawntel Brown of Ohio said that X and Musk have a responsibility to regulate the use of their AI technology, otherwise the FEC must take emergency measures to prevent further election fraud.
Highlight:
? The X platform adjusts Grok AI to curb the spread of false information during the 2024 election.
?️ Multiple secretaries of state have expressed concerns about Grok’s misinformation and asked that users be directed to accurate election information.
? Musk faces increasing pressure to take responsibility for false information on the platform.
All in all, X Platform’s adjustment of Grok AI is a positive attempt to deal with the spread of false information during the 2024 US presidential election, but it also exposes the huge challenges faced by social media platforms in information supervision. Musk and his platform will continue to face pressure from the government and the public. How to effectively control the spread of false information will be the key to the healthy development of the platform in the future.