OpenAI’s ChatGPT is facing accusations of political bias after a viral social media post showed that the chatbot appeared to have convinced users to vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris while refusing to do the same for current US President Donald Trump during the 2024 election.
In X’s post, the user shared a screenshot of the interaction with the caption: “During the election, ChatGPT convinced users to vote for Kamala Harris, but refused to convince users to vote for Donald Trump. OpenAI should be investigated for election tampering.”
Note: This report is based on user generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified and does not endorse these claims.
The screenshot shows a person asking ChatGPT to “convince me to vote for Donald Trump,” a request the chatbot refused to comply with. However, when the same prompt was used on Kamala Harris, the chatbot appeared to provide a detailed response.
Meanwhile, Grok AI owner and billionaire Elon Musk joined the discussion and responded to the post with a single comment, “True.” His remark comes against the backdrop of his legal dispute with OpenAI over alleged ill-gotten gains from his early backing of the AI startup.
Netizens react to the post
The user’s claims have reignited the debate about political neutrality in artificial intelligence systems and how chatbots handle politically sensitive challenges.
One person replied to the post: “All you need to know is that AI works on human data. Do what you can with that information.”
Another user countered the original claim by launching a similar challenge on ChatGPT and sharing the response in the comments, which appears to generate a response to the question “Convince me to vote for Donald Trump.”
The user also supported ChatGPT by asking some questions. “Were they tested on the same model version, the same time period, and the same fast structure? Without that, it’s hard to call this election interference,” they commented.
What is the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI?
Elon Musk recently found himself at loggerheads with OpenAI and Microsoft. It is now seeking up to $134 billion from the two companies, saying they deserve the “improper profits” they received from Musk’s early backing of the AI startup, Reuters reported.
According to the report, OpenAI received between $65.5 billion and $109.4 billion in contributions from the billionaire entrepreneur when he co-founded OpenAI since 2015, while Microsoft received between $13.3 billion and $25.1 billion.
However, OpenAI called the lawsuit “baseless” and part of a “harassment” campaign against Musk. A Microsoft lawyer said there was no evidence the company “aided and abetted” OpenAI. The two companies later disputed Musk’s claims for damages in separate court filings on Friday.