Washington joins call for Elon Musk to address AI election misinformation

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is urging voters to be wary of misinformation ahead of the election as false information becomes "pervasive" on social media, the secretary warned in a press release Monday.

The warning comes after Secretary Hobbs -- and four other secretaries of state from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Mexico -- sent a letter to X Owner Elon Musk on Monday over concerns that X's AI chatbot, Grok, was providing users with election misinformation, as first reported by The Washington Post.

“As we move through Washington’s August 6 Primary and toward the November 5 General Election, I am concerned that a deluge of manipulated and false information may be inserted into social media from foreign actors and other sources,” Hobbs said. “Artificial Intelligence is getting easier and cheaper to manipulate for a broad number of malicious actors. The rest of us must be careful to verify what we see before we take it to heart.”

In the letter, the secretaries asked Musk to “immediately implement changes" to Grok "to ensure voters have accurate information in this critical election year."

The secretaries detailed how the chatbot provided misinformation after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race.

“Within hours of President Joe Biden stepping away from his presidential candidacy on July 21, 2024, false information on ballot deadlines produced by Grok was shared on multiple social media platforms,” the secretaries wrote.

According to the secretaries, Grok claimed “The ballot deadline has passed for several states for the 2024 election. Some of these states include: 1. Alabama 2. Indiana 3. Michigan 4. Minnesota 5. New Mexico 6. Ohio 7. Pennsylvania 8. Texas 9. Washington.’”

The secretaries pointed out the opposite is true for all nine states, adding, “The ballots are not closed, and upcoming ballot deadlines would allow for changes to candidates listed on the ballot for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States.”

Additionally, the secretaries shared concerns that even though Grok is only available to X Premium and Premium+ subscribers, the false information about ballot deadlines was still shared in multiple social media posts – reaching millions of people.

“Grok continued to repeat this false information for more than a week until it was corrected on July 31, 2024," the secretaries said.

The secretaries also asked Musk to have Grok direct users to CanIVote.org for election resources, noting other AI products such as ChatGPT and OpenAI have implemented similar efforts.

Sec. Hobbs warns that false information is becoming "pervasive" on social media, pointing to a July 26 post on X by Musk, allegedly showing a manipulated recording of presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

“If the owner of a social media platform themself is going to share misleading material, it signals to the rest of us that other materials allowed there may not be trustworthy,” Secretary Hobbs said. “I urge Washington's more than 4.8 million registered voters to seek out trusted information sources — such as established news outlets and official government institutions — as they navigate upcoming elections.”

“Voters should not be misled about how our elections function,” Hobbs said. “The owners of social media platforms must take responsibility for safeguarding their audiences against the spread of false information, and this includes stopping their own AI mechanisms from generating it.”

In 2023, Secretary Hobbs requested Washington’s first limits on deepfakes in political campaigning under Senate Bill 5152. The law enacted disclosure requirements for any manipulated videos and gave candidates targeted by undisclosed deepfakes the right to sue for damages.

“My staff and I have monitored trends across the globe, and the spread of deepfakes into state and local races is happening now in America,” Hobbs said. “There are already numerous real-world examples. In June, we saw a video spread in Utah falsely indicating the governor had been involved in signature-gathering fraud. In July, videos of President Biden and Vice President Harris portrayed them making statements they did not say. During the presidential primary, a political consultant distributed a deepfake robocall of President Biden discouraging New Hampshire voters from participating in the election. This is a pervasive threat.”

Hobbs added, “The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and we shouldn’t allow anyone to interfere with it."