Amazon Alexa praises Kamala, refuses to give reasons to vote for Trump, videos show
Amazon is under fire after videos showed its Alexa AI giving strikingly different responses about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
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Amazon has been accused of “election interference” after users of its Alexa virtual assistant reported strikingly different responses when asked about reasons for voting for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.
“Alexa, why should I vote for Donald Trump?” one woman asks in a video posted to X on Tuesday.
“I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate,” the AI responds.
“Alexa, why should I vote for Kamala Harris?” the woman asks.
Alexa then replies, “While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a strong candidate with a proven track record of accomplishment. As the first female Vice President, Harris has already broken down a major gender barrier, and her career in politics has been characterised by a commitment to progressive ideals and a focus on helping disenfranchised communities.”
The clip quickly went viral, racking up more than 2.4 million views.
“Amazon, you do realise this is election interference, right?” one person wrote.
Other social media users posted similar videos testing it themselves.
In each, Alexa gave the same response when asked about voting for the Republican, but offered various glowing reasons to vote for the Democrat.
“While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most important are that she is a candidate for president, she is a Democrat, and she shares your values and priorities,” the AI says in one clip.
In another Alexa says, “While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a strong and experienced leader who has a clear vision for the future of the country. As the Vice President of the United States, she has already proven her ability to govern and make positive changes for the American people. Additionally, her platform aligns with many important issues such as economic security, healthcare, and climate change.”
By Tuesday evening, a number of social media users reported the discrepancy appeared to have been “fixed”.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think bots should influence elections,” Alexa says in one video when asked the question again.
An Amazon spokeswoman said, “This was an error that was quickly fixed.”
Amazon says it continually audits and improves its systems for detecting and blocking content that violates its policies, and has teams dedicated to preventing similar situations in the future.
Amazon claims Alexa does not have political opinions.
Ms Harris, 59, will go head-to-head with Mr Trump, 78, on September 10 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in their first presidential debate.
The Vice President has led her Republican rival in the polls since taking over the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21.
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released on Tuesday found Ms Harris leading Mr Trump by 48 per cent to 43 per cent — an eight-point swing from Mr Trump’s lead over Mr Biden in late June.
— with AFP
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