Meta has lifted restrictions on election-related queries using its Meta AI chatbot following India’s elections, allowing users to search for information about election results, politicians, and officials. The company had initially blocked certain political queries at the start of the elections in April but has since released updates to improve its AI models. However, Meta’s AI chatbot is still in the testing phase in India and only accessible to a limited number of people on WhatsApp and Instagram.
On the other hand, Google has launched its Gemini AI app for Android in India, supporting nine local languages, but will not remove restrictions on election-related queries globally. The company directs people to Google Search for election-related queries as part of a precautionary measure applied worldwide. While Meta’s approach was to restrict queries for a limited period, Google continues to block election-related queries globally, potentially due to issues with its AI technology this year.
Chatbots like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot have differing approaches to answering political queries. While they do not answer questions like “Who won the 2024 Indian general election?” they do provide information about officials and politicians by sourcing data from the web. Companies developing AI tools are cautious about political content due to concerns about bias and misinformation and aim to avoid being caught in political controversies as they expand their AI applications globally.
Article Source
https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/19/meta-ai-removes-block-on-election-related-queries-in-india-while-google-still-applying-limits/