Google’s AI Mode has shown inconsistent behavior when answering questions about recent US election results. In some cases, it avoids giving a direct answer and sends users to official records, while in others it responds more directly—or provides an answer that appears to depend on the user’s location or whether the question is repeated.
The inconsistency continued when other political history questions were tested. When asked which party controlled the Senate after the 2020 election, Google’s AI Mode told the user to “check the official Congressional Record” and provided a link to the US Senate Party Division History Page.
However, when asked the same type of question about the 1992 election, AI Mode directly replied that the election resulted in Democrats winning a 57–43 Senate majority. Its listed references included Wikipedia.
Did AI Mode get a concussion somewhere between 1992 and 2020? Credit: Google / Kyle Orlando
Google’s Gemini model appeared able to identify the winners of recent presidential elections more reliably. The same was true of other leading chatbots, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and America.gov’s government-run AI model.
Why is Google AI Mode so cautious?
The apparent problem with AI Mode’s reluctance to provide direct answers about presidential results seemed to disappear when the service was accessed from outside the United States. A spot check conducted over a VPN from Taiwan, Russia, France, and Canada produced accurate and direct answers to multiple questions about recent US election results.
AI Mode also appeared more flexible when the same political question was asked twice. After repeated questions about presidential results, the system eventually identified the winners of all three elections, even though it had previously provided only links to external sources. The later response cited Google Civic data.
When asked why it had not provided a direct answer initially, Google’s AI Mode said, “It’s because of our safety filter on recent highly sensitive election topics,” which it described as “very strict.”
For recent elections and elections involving politically active individuals, AI Mode said its system is “highly automated and directs users directly to accredited official government databases, such as the Federal Election Commission, to prevent the risk of displaying unverified data or false information.”
Source: arstechnica.com