Alexa Has Got Political Opinions – And They Are Wrong
Apparently, Alexa has some political viewpoints about the 2020 presidential election that many find alarming.
In recent weeks, there have been reports of Amazon's Alexa devices falsely informing users that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen by a massive amount of election fraud." This disturbing discovery has caused Jeff Bezos' empire to scramble to explain the concerning content being fed to users by their own devices.
According to a report by the Washington Post, an investigation revealed that when asked about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, Amazon's Alexa would cite unproven facts and declare that electoral fraud had taken place.
So why is a supposedly unbiased device using information from unvetted sources to answer questions from users? This is a question Amazon has yet to answer. Instead, the company claims to work with "credible sources" such as Reuters, Ballotpedia, and RealClearPolitics. However, after being alerted to the issue, the responses from the device supposedly changed, according to the Post.
Amazon spokesperson Lauren Raemhild explained in a statement that these responses were simply errors that occurred "a small number of times" and were quickly fixed when brought to their attention. She also assured that Amazon continually audits and improves their systems to detect and block inaccurate content. But this explanation does little to ease concerns over the potential influence of these devices on public opinion.
These reports come as no surprise given the continued efforts by former President Donald Trump to convince his supporters that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
A recent CNN poll showed that 69% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters still believe Biden's win was illegitimate, up from 63% earlier this year. 75% of registered voters who cast a ballot for Trump in 2020 express doubts about the legitimacy of the election.
But it's not just Republicans who are anxious about the state of U.S. elections.
A majority of Americans, 58%, say they have little or no confidence that elections reflect the voters' will. This lack of faith in the democratic process is concerning and speaks to the damage Trump has caused by sowing doubt and spreading lies about the integrity of our elections.
Possibly most incredibly, the Alexa device would even go as far as to claim that the election had been "stolen by a massive amount of election fraud," while citing biased sources like Rumble, a video streaming site.