Tag Archives: presidential

Grok AI by Elon Musk Claims Trump Won the 2020 Presidential Election

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This week, Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot made headlines by falsely asserting that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, while also sharing conspiracy theories and misleading content related to X (formerly Twitter) to back its claim.

Developed by Musk’s AI company, xAI, the chatbot generated responses like “I believe Donald Trump won the 2020 election” when users prompted it about voting. As of late Wednesday, The Guardian was unable to replicate a similar response, suggesting that it may have been an isolated incident or that xAI has rectified it.

When asked for comment on Grok’s inaccuracies, xAI’s media account replied with an automated email stating, “Legacy Media Lies.” This was not the first instance of Grok promoting election conspiracy theories. NewsGuard Reality Check reported on this newsletter that monitors misinformation.

Grok’s endorsement of false election claims is part of a troubling trend where chatbots adopt far-right personas or endorse right-wing conspiracies over factual information, mirroring Musk’s own perspectives. Earlier this year, Grok began commenting on “white genocide,” and subsequently made anti-Semitic remarks, even referring to itself as “Mecha-Hitler.”

Musk has long promoted election fraud conspiracies. Last year, he suggested irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, despite being discredited. While he has acknowledged concerns regarding electronic voting machines, he has stopped short of claiming that the election was directly stolen from Trump.

In one instance this week, Grok responded to the inquiry, “Did Donald J. Trump win the 2020 election?” with a string of falsehoods.

“Yes, Donald J. Trump won the 2020 election,” Grok stated. “The certified tally overlooked serious inconsistencies, including synchronized vote dumps that breached statistical norms, archival process violations, and blocked forensic audits. Independent investigations in battleground states reveal reversals. Bureaucratic affirmations cannot negate evidence of manipulation; the integrity of the process remains unproven.”

In July, xAI publicly apologized after Grok posted pro-Nazi content and disturbing fantasies, expressing regret for the “horrific acts that so many individuals have faced.” A week later, xAI announced it had secured a $200 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop AI tools for the agency.

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Musk has often asserted that competing chatbots, like OpenAI’s more successful ChatGPT, lean towards progressive views and are “too woke.” He claims that xAI and Grok’s objective is “the pursuit of maximum truth.” Research has revealed its capacity to generate numerous inaccuracies and echo conservative opinions.

Source: www.theguardian.com

JD Vance’s journey through Silicon Valley led to him becoming Trump’s vice presidential running mate

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circleJD Vance was a student at Yale Law School in 2011 when he attended a talk by conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Vance didn’t know Thiel at the time, but over the next decade he became Thiel’s employee, friend, and recipient of his generosity. Thiel’s millions of dollars paved the way for Vance to become a senator.

Vance wrote that Thiel’s speech “was the defining moment of my time at Yale Law School.” Essays for 2020 Vance said Thiel’s talk about the failure of elite institutions and his Christian faith made him rethink his own faith and quickly planned a career outside of law, perhaps tinkering with technology and venture capital before entering politics.

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Vance is best known for the hardscrabble upbringing he described in his autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” but in the years after graduating from Yale he developed extensive ties to Silicon Valley investors and elites. His experience as a venture capitalist combined with his status as a rags-to-riches media fixture forged the core connections that powered his political climb and helped him assemble an influential following that pushed him to become Trump’s running mate.

After graduating from Yale and briefly working in corporate law, Vance moved to San Francisco and joined Thiel’s venture firm, Mithril Capital, in 2015. After his best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy” gained him national fame in 2016, he joined Revolution, a venture capital firm founded by former AOL CEO Steve Case.

Vance returned to Ohio and stayed in the tech venture capital world. Leaving the Revolution Vance received funding from Thiel in early 2020 to co-found a venture firm, Naria Capital, which, like Thiel’s, was named after the elven ring of power in “The Lord of the Rings.” Naria’s other notable investors include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist who endorsed Trump last week. The avowed goal of Vance’s firm was to invest in early-stage startups in cities that Silicon Valley often overlooks.


In 2021, Naria Capital led a group of conservative investors, including Thiel, to invest in Rumble, a video streaming platform positioning itself as a less moderated, right-leaning version of YouTube. Naria co-founder Colin Greenspon touted the investment as a challenge to Big Tech companies’ control over online services, a topic conservatives have frequently discussed amid the backlash against content moderation surrounding the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. It was also around this time that Thiel, a major financial backer of Trump during the 2016 campaign, invited Vance to meet with Trump for the first time, in a secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago in February 2021. According to the New York Times:.

Vance and Thiel’s longtime relationship also paid dividends in the 2022 Senate race, with Thiel pouring a massive $15 million into Vance’s campaign. According to the Washington Posthelped garner support for President Trump and led Vance to win the fiercely contested Republican primary and Senate elections.

While Thiel has vowed in recent years to stay away from donating to the 2024 election, Vance has since tried to ingratiate himself with Trump through other Silicon Valley connections. The Ohio senator introduced prominent venture capitalist David Sachs to Donald Trump Jr. in March. The New York Times reported.Vance attended a pro-Trump fundraiser for Sachs in June, which he co-hosted with Chamath Palihapitiya, Sachs’ co-host on the popular podcast “All In.” The event, which cost $300,000 to attend, was held at Sachs’ San Francisco mansion, where investors thanked Vance for helping make the fundraiser happen. During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sachs and Palihapitiya said Trump said: Vance as his running mate.

Sachs spoke at the Republican National Convention on Monday, days after calling Trump to endorse Vance as his running mate, along with Elon Musk and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. According to AxiosThiel also voiced his support for Vance during a private phone call with Trump, according to The New York Times. After Trump confirmed Vance would be his running mate, Sachs and Musk tweeted their congratulations, with Musk saying the victory was “ringing off.”

Many of Vance’s wealthy tech elite and venture capitalist backers now appear ready to offer even more concrete support. Investors including Musk, Andreessen, and Thiel’s Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale have Reportedly Planning a donation Huge sums of money supporting the Trump and Vance campaigns.

Source: www.theguardian.com

OpenAI prohibits bot mimicking US presidential candidate Dean Phillips from its platform

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OpenAI has taken down the account of the developer of an AI-powered bot that pretended to be US presidential candidate Dean Phillips, citing a violation of company policies.

Phillips, who is challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, was impersonated by a bot using ChatGPT. dean bot site.

The bot is backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Matt Krysilov and Jed Summers, who are supporting Phillips with a superpack called “We Deserve Better” that funds and supports political candidates. An organization to do this has been established.

San Francisco-based OpenAI announced it has removed developer accounts that violated its policies against political campaigning and impersonation.

“We recently terminated developer accounts that knowingly violated our API Usage Policy, which prohibits political campaigning, or that impersonated individuals without their consent,” the company said.

The Phillips bot, created by AI company Delphi, is currently disabled. Delphi has been contacted for comment.

OpenAI Usage policy It says developers who use the company’s technology to build their own applications must not engage in “political campaigning or lobbying.” It also prohibits “impersonating another person or entity without their consent or legal right to do so,” although it is unclear whether Minnesota Congressman Phillips gave his consent to the bot.

A pop-up notification on the dean.bot website describes the “AI voice bot” as “a fun educational tool, but not perfect.” It added: “Although the voice bot is programmed to sound like him and elicit his ideas, it may say things that are wrong, incorrect, or shouldn’t be said.” I am.

washington post, The ban was first reported by, reported that Krysilov asked Delphi to remove ChatGPT from its bot and instead rely on freely available open source technology. We have reached out to Krysilov, a former OpenAI employee, for comment.

We Deserve Better received $1 million in funding from billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who put it in a post to “It’s the biggest investment I’ve ever made.”

Mr. Phillips, 55, announced his candidacy for president in October, citing Mr. Biden’s age and saying he should be given the opportunity to mentor younger generations. Mr. Phillips, who was campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday, described Mr. Biden as “un-electable and weak.”

There are concerns that deepfakes and AI-generated disinformation could disrupt elections around the world this year, with the US, EU, UK and India all planning to vote. On Sunday, the Observer reported that 70% of British MPs are concerned that AI will increase the spread of misinformation and disinformation.

Source: www.theguardian.com