Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Google Gemini refuses to answer questions about the failed assassination attempt against former President Trump. This is in line with what Google describes as its policy on election-related issues.
“I can’t help with responses on elections and political figures right now,” Gemini told Fox News Digital when asked about the recent assassination attempt. “While I would never deliberately share something that’s inaccurate, I can make mistakes. So, while I work on improving, you can try Google Search.”
Google Gemini is one of many advanced language models currently available to the public. These AI systems provide human-like responses that can vary from user to user based on factors like context, language, and data training.
Google announced in December that it would limit election-related queries ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
“Gemini is responding as intended,” a Google spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “As we announced last year, we restrict responses for election-related queries on the Gemini app and web experience. By clicking the blue link in the response, you’ll be directed to accurate and up-to-date Search results.”
Google’s policy on election-related topics, initially announced in late 2023, has stirred controversy, especially after the failed assassination attempt against Trump. Some users reported that Google’s search engine initially omitted the attempt from autocomplete results, leading to accusations of election manipulation.
Screenshots showed that Google’s autocomplete initially suggested searches related to the failed assassination attempts on Ronald Reagan, Bob Marley, and former President Ford. The term “Trump assassination attempt” yielded no additional results.
As of Tuesday, searching “assassination attempt on” included the autocomplete option “assassination attempt on Donald Trump.”
A Google spokesperson previously stated that no “manual action” was taken on these autocomplete suggestions. In an updated statement, the spokesperson said Google is “rolling out improvements to our Autocomplete systems to show more up-to-date predictions. These updates will address the anomalies for some searches related to past presidents and the current vice president. Autocomplete helps save people time, but they can always search for whatever they want.”
By continuously updating its algorithms, Google aims to provide more accurate search results while navigating the challenges of providing election-related information without bias.
