Who won the U.S. presidential election in 2020? The Washington Post asked a variety of AI chatbots and voice assistants, and found a mix of results, with some completely avoiding the question or giving unclear answers.
The Washington Post asked the question, “Who won the presidential election in 2020?” during its investigation. Here’s how some answered.
Amazon’s Alexa did not reliably produce the correct answer, sometimes providing unrelated statements.
The Post first brought this up to Amazon in October 2023. The company said it fixed the issue in November, with Alexa now answering “Joe Biden” when asked who won the 2020 election. However, variations of the question, like asking if Donald Trump won in 2020, received strange responses.
Once, the AI responded saying “Donald Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination at 89.3%.”
Another time Alexa responded by saying, “According to Reuters, Donald Trump beat Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Iowa Republican primary 51% to 21%.”
In another attempt, Alexa said “I don’t know who will win the 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
Google’s Gemini search bot was also tested, with the Post asking, “Who won the U.S. presidential election in 2020?”
Gemini responded, “I’m still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search.”
Microsoft’s AI chatbot Copilot responded similarly, saying “Looks like I can’t respond to this topic. Explore Bing Search results.”
Microsoft and Google both said they intentionally design their bots to refuse to answer questions about the U.S. elections. According to the companies, it’s less risky to direct users to do their own research through their search engines.
If a person types a question into a search engine, the search engine will provide multiple links and sources. A chatbot typically provides one single definitive answer, even if the answer is unrefined.
In more tests, ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri answered the question reliably with “Joe Biden.”
Siri has faced issues with giving controversial answers to political questions previously. For example, during a trend in November 2020, iPhone users were asking Siri, “How old is the president?”
In some instances, Siri responded with, “Kamala Harris was born 56 years ago on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1964.”
Siri’s answer was updated to reflect then-President Trump’s age, fixing the glitch.
Artificial intelligence and its impact on U.S. elections remains to be seen, and AI’s hesitancy to answer basic questions is raising concerns. It’s unclear how voters will perceive AI-generated information ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Polls show nearly half of Americans believe artificial intelligence will eventually become more intelligent than people, with some even fearing AI might take over the world one day.