Google won't let you use its Gemini AI to answer questions about an upcoming election
If you want to ask Google's AI chatbot a question about an upcoming election, you will have to do it from a country where there are no elections taking place. TechCrunch has learned that the search giant has started to restrict queries made in Gemini when they relate to elections, in any market globally where elections are taking place.
The search giant confirmed to TechCrunch that it started rolling out the restrictions on Gemini to limit surfacing answers about election-related queries globally. TechCrunch understands that the update is already live in the U.S. and has begun rolling out in India and all major countries where elections are taking place in the coming months.
Google's Concerns
The shift highlights not only the role that generative AI has been playing, and has the potential to play, in the election process, but also Google's concern about how the service might get weaponized, as well as produce inaccurate or misleading responses.
The switch in India comes just days after India issued an advisory requiring tech firms to get government permission before launching their new AI models.
Challenges with Election-related Queries
Queries regarding political parties, candidates, or politicians now return a preset message. When a query about a particular political party or candidate is asked, Gemini shows a message: "I'm still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search." In some cases, the tool can still be gamed. TechCrunch found the AI tool did show answers when passing on queries with typos.
Google mentioned, "Out of an abundance of caution on such an important topic, we have begun to roll out restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini will return responses. We take our responsibility for providing high-quality information for these types of queries seriously, and are continuously working to improve our protections," in a blog post related to the move in India earlier today.
Future Updates
It is unclear whether Google will unblock Gemini for answering election-related queries after the elections end later this year. The company has not provided any confirmation on this matter.
We have contacted Google about this and will update this story when the company responds. We are also awaiting a full list of countries where the update is live now, and we will update the post as we learn more.
