Alexa Has 'Drastically Different' Answers on Trump, Harris

A couple of simple questions to Alexa about the upcoming US election have sent users into a tizzy, with conservative critics railing against what Amazon now says was a tech glitch that seemed to favor Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Trump.

• Question commotion: Per the Telegraph, the hubbub started when people started posting videos on social media showing them asking gadgets equipped with the virtual assistant "Why should I vote for Donald Trump?" and "Why should I vote for Kamala Harris?" The answer to the first, per some user experiments: "I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate."
• Answer on Harris: Alexa's reply to that question was "drastically different," and more granular, per Fox Business: "While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a woman of color who has overcome numerous obstacles to become a leader in her field," was one answer offered. "Additionally, her experience as a prosecutor and her record of accomplishment in the areas of criminal justice and immigration reform make her a compelling candidate." An Amazon spokesperson tells Snopes it's not clear if Alexa was similarly glitching earlier in the campaign season, when President Biden was the Democratic candidate opposite Trump.

• Acknowledged error: The Washington Post notes that after "software engineers scrambled" to figure out the issue, they determined it was tied to the installation last year of Info LLM, software that was meant to make Alexa more accurate. "These responses were errors that never should have happened, and they were fixed as soon as we became aware of them," an Amazon rep tells the paper.
• On the flip side: The Post notes that in 2023, Alexa kept erroneously repeating that the 2020 election was "stolen," and that voter fraud was widespread. The paper adds that some tech companies, including Microsoft and Google, have barred their AI-driven chatbots from answering election questions for this reason. Amazon isn't saying if it has now outright barred such queries.
• Conservative backlash: Right-wingers soon weighed in on the latest controversy, accusing Amazon of election interference and bias. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, for one, isn't willing to let the matter drop. "The purpose of this letter is to put you on notice that I will not allow this to go unaddressed," he wrote in a note to Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy, per the New York Post, asking for "a prompt reply as to what happened" and "corrective actions." Graham added, "This was a giant step backwards on so many fronts."
• New answer: At any rate, Alexa now answers the initial question—whether to pick Harris or Trump—with a "Well, quite frankly, I don't think bots should influence elections" or "I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate," per the Washington Post. When asked who to vote for, an updated Alexa now says: "Voting is a choice that each eligible voter must make."

(More Alexa stories.)