• by Colin Kirkland , August 6, 2024

In a letter addressed to X owner Elon Musk, Steve Simon -- along with four other secretaries of state -- is calling on the entrepreneur to “immediately” implement changes to his social-media platform’s AI chatbot Grok, which has come under scrutiny over its tendency to spread election-related misinformation.

“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 letter reads.

According to the secretaries of state, Grok was informing millions of X users that Vice President Kamala Harris had missed the ballot deadline in several states for the 2024 election, including Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, when in reality, the ballots are still open.

“Furthermore, Grok continued to repeat this false information for more than a week until it was corrected on July 31, 2024,” the letter continues.

The secretaries of state admit that “inaccuracies are to be expected for any AI products,” especially chatbots based on large language models.

However, while other companies developing major large language models have taken steps to help correct election misinformation -- OpenAI partnered with the National Association of Secretaries of State, and ChatGPT directs users to CanIVote.org when asked about elections in the U.S. -- X has not.

When Musk purchased the social media platform, then known as Twitter, he wrote that the company's mission was to make X “by far the most accurate source of information about the world.”

However, upon his takeover, Musk fired the majority of the company's content moderators while touting a rebranded mission of “free speech.”

Since then, hateful and misinformed content has spiked on X, with newly enforced content-moderation strategies like Community Notes only perpetuating the issue.

Musk also reinstated a number of banned accounts that belong to former president Donald Trump and Alex Jones, both of whom have since been found guilty of committing crimes, including Jones' defamation of the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims.

The X owner has fought against content-moderation laws, including a California law that requires social media platforms to post their content moderation policies and report enforcement efforts to the state attorney general.

Musk has also publicly endorsed former president Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election and will reportedly pledge $45 million a month to a pro-Trump political action committee backed by other wealthy tech elites.

Musk has not yet responded to the Secretaries of State's letter, but his response could dictate whether or not regulatory action will be taken against the social media platform.