Amazon Alexa Under Scrutiny As Democrats Write Letter To Jeff Bezos Expressing 'Serious Concern' About Election Misinformation

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to Amazon Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos, expressing their “serious concern” over Alexa’s role in spreading election misinformation.

What Happened: The concerns stem from a recent report by The Washington Post, which disclosed instances of the virtual voice assistant echoing false claims about the 2020 election.

In their letter to Bezos, Klobuchar and Morelle sought clarification on Amazon’s policies regarding election misinformation on Alexa and inquired about their strategies to enhance information accuracy and mitigate the dissemination of misinformation in the lead-up to the upcoming elections.

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“This spreading of election-related misinformation and disinformation is particularly troubling given the emerging use of artificial intelligence to mislead voters,” the letter stated, adding, “With some ballots for the 2024 election being sent out as early as this December, it is important that proactive measures are promptly taken so that voters can trust the information that is provided to them,” 

It was previously reported that when questioned about the election, Alexa allegedly declared it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud” and noted “many incidents of irregularities and indications pointing to electoral fraud taking place in major metro centers.”

Amazon responded to these allegations, citing the inaccuracies as “errors that were delivered a small number of times” and assuring they were promptly addressed. 

Read the complete letter here. It was first reported by The Hill.  

Why It’s Important: The capability of Alexa to potentially amplify claims of election fraud has remained a troubling issue, especially in an era when artificial intelligence has increasingly been harnessed to manipulate public opinion.

AI has made big headlines in 2023 and might be a crucial topic in the 2024 presidential election. 

A survey conducted by Morning Consult and Axios found that 53% of Americans are concerned that AI might spread false information about the election winner in 2024. About one-third of those surveyed said they would trust election results less because of AI.

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