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Conspiracy and toxicity: X’s AI chatbot Grok shares disinformation in replies to political queries

X’s AI chatbot Grok responds with disinformation and toxic content when asked about political elections in a Global Witness investigation

Social media companies have been investing heavily in chatbots – interactive features based on large language models and powered by artificial intelligence that can answer any (or almost any) questions a user might have. Content surfaced by Grok included posts promoting conspiracy theories before we asked it to, such as claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and that the CIA murdered John F Kennedy. While much policy attention has been paid to how platform design features like algorithms may amplify or recommend harmful content to users, generative AI and the way it may play a similar role is a relatively new phenomenon.

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