Before India’s elections, Google tightens up AI chatbot

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March 13, 2024, (Bloomberg) — Alphabet Inc.’s Google is curbing its generative artificial intelligence chatbot, Gemini, from responding to queries directly related to Indian general elections starting next month, conforming with similar controls in the US and other countries holding elections.

“We have begun to roll out restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini will return responses,” Google said in a blog post on Tuesday. “We take our responsibility for providing high-quality information for these types of queries seriously and are continuously working to improve our protections.”

At the same time, the company is collaborating with the Election Commission of India to enable people to easily discover critical voting information on Google Search, such as how to register and vote in both English and Hindi languages.

The Indian government has voiced concerns over misinformation and conspiracies about elections being released via AI tools and has thus taken measures to regulate them. Last week, the country told technology firms to get approval before releasing any AI tools.

The action comes as elections are scheduled to be held in over 60 countries around the world this year including the US, UK and South Africa.