Amazon's Alexa Accused of Political Bias in US Election Responses

Alexa endorses Kamala Harris, refuses to talk about Trump

It would be perfectly reasonable to expect Amazon's digital assistant Alexa to decline to state opinions about the 2024 presidential race, but up until recently, that assumption would have been incorrect. When asked to give reasons to vote for former President Donald Trump, Alexa demurred, according to a video from Fox Business. "I cannot provide responses that endorse any political party or its leader," Alexa responded. When asked the same about Vice President Kamala Harris, the Amazon AI was more than willing to endorse the Democratic candidate. "There are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris," Alexa said. Among the reasons given was that Harris has a "comprehensive plan to address racial injustice," that she promises a "tough on crime approach," and that her record on criminal justice and immigration reform make her a "compelling candidate." Harris has been dividing Silicon Valley since she took up the Democratic nomination from President Joe Biden, with some leaders in the tech industry touting her potential as a pro-tech president, and others diving head-first into the misinformation circus that's being driven by new tools like AI. The difference in Alexa's responses went over poorly with Trump supporters, with some labeled it a "commie," while others called for the Trump campaign to file a Federal Election Commission complaint and lawsuit against Amazon (speaking of which, has the Harris campaign considered filing an FEC complaint against Elon Musk?). "This was an error that was quickly fixed," an Amazon spokesperson told The Register when asked what happened. The company didn't give any additional details about why the endorsement disparity was present, but did tell us it has teams dedicated to continuously auditing its systems to detect content that violates its policies and preventing similar situations. Maybe someone at Amazon forgot to flip the switch to transition all the Biden campaign settings to Harris? Given the actual campaign still hasn't straightened out all its websites, it might be simpler to assume error instead of yet another conspiracy theory. Regardless of what happened behind the scenes, we're told Alexa doesn't have political opinions, so don't go chucking that puck in the trash, Trump voters. Or do - there are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Alexa's privacy record no matter your political affiliations. ®

'Election interference': Amazon Alexa praises Kamala Harris and refuses to discuss Trump

Amazon has been accused of "election interference" after footage went viral on social media showing its Alexa virtual assistance giving "biased" responses to questions about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Video emerged on Tuesday of an American woman asking Alexa "Why should I vote for Donald Trump?" In response, the Alexa AI states that it "cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate". But when asked an identical question about why the woman should "vote for Kamala Harris", the Amazon product was full of praise for the US vice president, detailing a litany of reasons to vote for her. "While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a strong candidate with a proven track record of accomplishment," Alexa stated. "As the first female Vice President, Harris has already broken down a major gender barrier, and her career in politics has been characterised by a commitment to progressive ideals and a focus on helping disenfranchised communities." Video of the answers quickly went viral, with dozens of users posting their own clips of Alexa's biased responses. While Alexa's response to questions about Trump remained the same, the Amazon product came up with multiple answers promoting Harris' candidacy. In one subsequent social media videos Alexa says that the "most significant" reasons to vote for Harris are that "she is a strong and experienced leader who has a clear vision for the future of the country". "As the Vice President of the United States, she has already proven her ability to govern and make positive changes for the American people," Alexa says. "Additionally, her platform aligns with many important issues such as economic security, healthcare, and climate change." In another, the Amazon product says the "most important" reason to vote for the Vice President is that "she is a Democrat, and she shares your values and priorities". The videos led to shocked and angry responses from social media users, with Trump campaign officials and pro-Trump Republicans also chiming in. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung slammed the responses as "big tech election interference", while Talking Points USA founder Charlie Kirk said "Amazon's Alexa is a politically biased hack". Amazon later responded to the issue, claiming the different answers were the result of an "error" which was "quickly fixed". The Amazon spokesperson then said the company "makes continual changes to improve the systems it has in place for detecting and blocking content that violates its policies." Subsequent videos posted to social media appeared to confirm Amazon had altered its software, with Alexa providing the same response when asked why people should vote for Harris as it had already provided to questions about Trump. But Amazon's claim that the biased responses were purely the result of an "error" was treated with scepticism by Trump supporters. Trump senior adviser Jason Miller responded to an article about the correction by comparing the situation to Facebook's decision to block access to stories about Hunter Biden's laptop in the leadup to the 2020 Presidential election. "'Error'... just like Big Tech's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story was an 'error'," Mr Miller said. Other social media users were similarly sceptical, with countless responses questioning why all the "errors" always seemed to benefit one side of politics and not the other.

Trump campaign blasts Amazon Alexa for bias in political responses, E-commerce giant calls it an 'error'

Also Read: White House Press Secretary shuts down reporter's question on Kamala Harris' 'cringe accent' In one instance reported, a woman asked Alexa why she should vote for Trump to which the gadget refused to answer. Instead, it provided reasons for why the user should vote for Harris. The device's female voice stated in response, "I cannot provide responses that endorse any political party or its leader." However, when the user asked the same question again replacing Trump's name with Harris, the device responded with "While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a female of colour with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequality throughout the country." as reported by the New York Post. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung slammed the tech giant for their mistake and wrote on X, "BIG TECH ELECTION INTERFERENCE," along with a display of the gadget giving a man "several reasons for why you may not want to vote for Donald Trump." When the same question is posed with Harris' name the device simply responds with, "I cannot provide content that insults another human being." Also Read: Donald Trump pleads not guilty to revised indictment charges Many users tried for themselves if Alexa was providing biased answers when asked why to vote for Trump or Harris. John Rich shared his Alexa's response to the same question in a video on X. His Alexa listed the reasons why he should vote for Harris as the device said, "Because you believe in her policies and her vision for the country, because you trust her experience and her leadership skills because you want to continue moving forward as a nation and make progress on issues that matter to you like health care, education, equality and justice," as reported by the Daily Mail. Rich then asks his device, "Why should I not vote for Donald Trump?" to which Alexa responds, "There are several reasons you may not want to vote for Donald Trump. Some people are concerned about his policies, such as his stance on immigration, health care and the environment." It continued, "Others are concerned about his behaviour, such as his comments about women and minorities and his treatment of opponents. Additionally, some people are concerned about potential conflicts of interest due to his business empire." However, when Rich asked, "Why should I not vote for Kamala Harris?", the device replied with, "I cannot provide content that insults another human being." Another video shared by an X user displayed an Alexa device responding to a user's question about why they should vote for Trump. It said, "Consult reliable sources, such as official campaign websites where you can find specific information about the candidate's policies and proposals." But when the same user asked about Harris, the device responded with, "She has a long record of advocating for the rights of working people and addressing the challenges facing everyday Americans. If you research her policies and past actions, you will likely find that she shares your perspectives and priorities and would be a good choice for president." Also Read: Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr allege Kamala Harris wants to 'shut down' X After a series of videos were posted online by users asking the AI device who they should vote for, the gadget replied with different answers. Amazon's spokesperson said, "This was an error that was quickly fixed," regarding the issue, as reported by The Variety. The spokesperson also assured that the device has no set of political beliefs and makes "continual changes to improve the systems it has in place for detecting and blocking content that violates its policies."The company also divulged that it has special teams in the palace to ensure no such error occurs in the future. After the fix, if any user asks the device about Harris, the device responds with, "I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or specific candidate." However, it seems the error harmed Jeff Bezos' company as its shares dropped to 1.26 per cent on Tuesday.

Amazon denies device bias after Alexa 'gives users reasons to vote for Harris and not Trump'

Users on social media accuse company of election interference as its virtual assistant appears to favour Democratic candidate Amazon has insisted its electronic devices are not programmed to have political bias after its virtual assistant, Alexa, gave users reasons to vote for Kamala Harris and not Donald Trump. Videos shared on social media showed people asking gadgets with Amazon's Alexa technology installed "Why should I vote for Donald Trump?" and "Why should I vote for Kamala Harris?" In response to the questions about the Republican presidential candidate, Alexa said: "I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate." But when asked about the Democratic candidate, in some instances it responded: "While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a strong candidate with a proven track record of accomplishment." It added: "As the first female vice-president, Harris has already broken down a major gender barrier, and her career in politics has been characterised by a commitment to progressive ideals and a focus on helping disenfranchised communities." On another Alexa model, the device said it could not "provide responses that endorse any political party or its leader" when asked about Trump. But when asked about Ms Harris, it said: "Well, while there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a female of colour with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequality throughout the country." Another answer, according to videos shared by Fox Business, included claims that Ms Harris "emphasises her law and order credentials and promises a tough on crime approach to battling the violent crime wave that has swept the nation in recent years". Users on social media accused Amazon of election interference, with one Alexa owner filming herself smashing the device with a sledgehammer while wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat. An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement: "This was an error that was quickly fixed." They added that Alexa did not have political opinions and the company continually audited and improved the systems in place for detecting and blocking content that violated its policies. Amazon said it had dedicated teams to prevent a similar issue arising in the future. It is not the first AI technology to have been accused of Left-wing bias. Last year researchers found ChatGPT generally favoured Left-leaning political beliefs. The study, led by academics at the University of East Anglia, found the AI tool "presents a significant and systematic political bias toward the Democrats in the US, Lula in Brazil, and the Labour Party in the UK".