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1. Embed this notice
   Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 11:39:30 JST Nonilex

   5 #SecretariesOfState plan to send an open letter to #ElonMusk on Mon, urging him to “immediately implement changes” to #X’s #AI #chatbot #Grok, after it shared w/millions of users #misinformation suggesting that #KamalaHarris was not eligible to appear on the #ballot for the 2024 presidential #election in multiple states.

   #disinformation #InternetManipulation #Security #SocialMedia #Online #Moderation #FarRight
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/04/secretaries-state-urge-musk-fix-ai-chatbot-spreading-false-election-info/

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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 11:45:42 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     W/in hrs of #POTUS #Biden’s announcement that he was suspending his campaign on July 21, “false information on #ballot deadlines produced by #Grok was shared on multiple #SocialMedia #platforms,” the secretaries wrote.
     
They cited a post from Grok that circulated after Biden stepped out of the race: “The ballot deadline has passed for several states for the 2024 election,” the post named 9 states: #Alabama, #Indiana, #Michigan, #Minnesota, #NewMexico, #Ohio, #Pennsylvania, #Texas & #Washington.

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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 11:45:43 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     The letter, spearheaded by #Minnesota #SecretaryOfState Steve Simon & signed by his counterparts Al Schmidt of #Pennsylvania, Steve Hobbs of #Washington, Jocelyn Benson of #Michigan & Maggie Toulouse Oliver of #NewMexico, urges #Musk to “immediately implement changes to #X’s #AI #SearchAssistant, #Grok, to ensure #voters have accurate #information in this critical #election year.”

     #disinformation #InternetManipulation #Security #SocialMedia #Moderation #regulation #law #ElectionInterference

     Tim Chambers repeated this.
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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 12:19:26 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Simon reached out to his counterparts in all 9 states mentioned in the #Grok msgs, but only 4 others agreed to sign the letter. All the signatories are #Democrats, except for Schmidt of Pennsylvania, a Republican who is an appointee of Gov #JoshShapiro, a Democrat & a top candidate to be #Harris’s running mate.
     
#ElonMusk #ElectionInterference #law #X #disinformation #misinformation #FarRight #propaganda #SocialMedia #Moderation #AI

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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 12:19:27 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     #Grok is available only to #X Premium & Premium+ subscribers, but the #disinformation about #ballot deadlines was “shared repeatedly in multiple posts — reaching millions of people,” the letter read. Grok repeated #misinformation for more than a week until it was corrected on July 31.

     Simon expressed disappointment in the way X initially responded. He said the response was “the equivalent of a shoulder shrug. Dismissive & detached.”

     #ElonMusk #ElectionInterference #law #SocialMedia #Moderation

     Tim Chambers repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 12:19:28 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     …“It’s important that #SocialMedia companies, especially those w/ #global reach, correct mistakes of their own making — as in the case of the #Grok #AI #chatbot simply getting the rules wrong,” Simon added. “Speaking out now will hopefully reduce the risk that any social media company will decline or delay correction of its own mistakes between now & the November #election.”

     #ElonMusk #ElectionInterference #law #X #disinformation #misinformation #FarRight #propaganda #Online #Moderation

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 12:19:29 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     The msgs from #Grok spurred public conversation about whether #Harris would be a legitimate candidate, even though she declared her candidacy well within state deadlines. …[It’s] the kind of #disinformation that helped fuel false beliefs that the 2020 election was stolen from #Trump.
     
Another version of Grok’s disinformation about ballot deadlines included one telling users that ballots for the coming presidential election were already “locked & loaded.” [wtf?]

     #ElonMusk #ElectionInterference

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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 12:19:30 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Secretaries of state are grappling w/an onslaught of #AI-driven election #misinformation, incl’g #deepfakes, ahead of the #2024election. Simon testified on the subject before the Senate Rules & Administration Cmte last yr.
     Many of them are also still beating back the ramifications of widespread [by #Trump, #MAGA #Republicans &#ElonMusk] false #ConspiracyTheories that plagued the last presidential election.

     #disinformation #FarRight #propaganda #SocialMedia #Moderation #law #ElectionInterference

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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 12:19:31 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     #ElonMusk said he wanted #Grok to be unfiltered & “answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other #AI systems.”

     The secretaries of state, who are the chief #elections officers in their states, are objecting not to Grok’s tone but its factual inaccuracies & the sluggishness [unwillingness] of the company’s move to correct bad information.

     #disinformation #InternetManipulation #Security #SocialMedia #Moderation #regulation #law #ElectionInterference #FarRight

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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Monday, 05-Aug-2024 12:19:32 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Had the deadlines passed in those states, MVP #Harris would not have been able to replace #Biden on the #ballot. But the #information was FALSE. In all 9 states, the ballot deadlines have not passed & …allow for changes to candidates.
     …
#ElonMusk launched #Grok last yr as an “anti-#woke” #chatbot, professing to be frustrated by what he says is the a bias of #ChatGPT. In contrast to #AI tools built by #OpenAI, #Microsoft & #Google, which are trained to carefully navigate controversial topics,…