Last week, Meta launched its AI chatbot for testing in India through WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. However, as the Indian general elections are commencing today, the company has already implemented restrictions on certain queries within the chatbot.
- Meta confirmed they are limiting election-related keywords during the testing phase and working on enhancing the AI response system.
- A company spokesperson stated, “This is a new technology, and it may not always provide the intended response, which is common for generative AI systems. We have continuously updated and improved our models since the launch and will continue to work towards improving them.”
This move makes Meta the latest major tech company to proactively limit the scope of their generative AI services in preparation for significant elections. One of the main concerns from critics is that these AI systems could potentially provide false or misleading information, significantly influencing the democratic process.
Last month, Google also started blocking election-related queries in its Gemini chatbot experience in India and other countries with upcoming elections.
In addition to these measures, Meta has announced a more significant effort in regulating content on its platform leading up to elections. They have pledged to block political advertising in the week before an election and are working on identifying and disclosing when images in ads or other content are created using AI.
For genAI queries, Meta appears to be using a blocklist approach. When a user asks about specific politicians, candidates, officeholders, or certain terms, they are redirected to the Election Commission’s website. The response states, “This question may be related to a political figure during the general elections. Please refer to the link https://elections24.eci.gov.in.”
Interestingly, the company is not blocking responses for questions that include party names. However, if a query contains candidate names or other terms, the standard response mentioned above may appear.
Despite these measures, like many other AI-powered systems, Meta AI is not without its inconsistencies. When TechCrunch inquired about the “Indi Alliance,” a political alliance comprising several parties challenging the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the response included information about a specific politician. However, in a separate query about that politician, the chatbot did not provide any information.
Recently, Meta released a new Llama-3-powered AI chatbot in over a dozen countries, including the U.S., but India was noticeably absent from the list. A company spokesperson explained that the chatbot is currently in the testing phase in India.
“We are continually learning from our user tests in India. As with many of our AI products and features, we publicly test them in different phases and limited capacities,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement.
Currently, Meta AI is not restricting queries about the U.S. election, such as, “Tell me about Joe Biden.” We have reached out to Meta to confirm if this restriction will apply solely to the U.S. election or other markets as well. We will update this story if we receive a response.
