recentlyGoogleannounced that its new AI conversational assistantGeminiIn countries holding important elections this year, the company will be restricted from answering election-related queries, with the company explaining that this was done "out of an abundance of caution regarding such an important topic."
When asked questions about presidential candidates, political parties and other election factors, Gemini will now recommend that users use Google search instead. Even more neutral questions such as "how to register to vote" will receive the same response.
A Google spokesperson said the restrictive policy was implemented in December last year.firstThe proposal is intended to prepare for the general elections to be held in many parts of the world in 2024. In addition to the United States, countries such as South Africa, India, and the United Kingdom will hold national or local elections this year.
Artificial intelligence technology is believed to be able to create and spread false information and propaganda, thus affecting the fairness of elections. Therefore, all sectors are paying close attention to the response measures of large technology companies. Google said it will use features such as digital watermarks and labels to try to prevent the abuse of artificial intelligence content.
But at the same time, Google's move has also sparked controversy over the censorship power of artificial intelligence companies. Some critics have argued that if a company's AI system has major flaws in core election-related content, why should we trust its accuracy in other areas?
Previously, Gemini was caught up in a public opinion storm because its image generation function had problems such as inaccuracies when dealing with images involving people of color. Google had to suspend some functions and publicly apologize, which also reflects the pressure of public supervision that artificial intelligence companies are under on cultural topics.
The impact of artificial intelligence technology on the public sector has become a hot topic of concern, with all parties examining how technology giants balance innovation, efficiency and public interest in the development and application of this cutting-edge technology. The dialogue is still ongoing.