Amazon's Alexa at center of controversy for praising Kamala Harris and marginalizing Trump
A viral video showed the partisan answers given by Jeff Bezos' AI when asked why one should vote for the Republican candidate or the Democrat.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Alexa
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the axis on which the technology industry moves. Aware of this, politicians from all political parties have incorporated it into their daily lives, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and use it to promote their image and discourse. They also use it to reduce the message of their opponents and the reach of those messages, which can lead to controversies such as the one that happened with Alexa.
Amazon's AI company, owned by Jeff Bezos, was at the center of controversy after it gave a very different answer for Donald Trump than for Kamala Harris when asked why one should vote for them.
"I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate," Amazon said of Trump.
"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 accomplishments," Alexa claimed about Harris. "As the first female vice president, Harris has already broken down a major gender barrier and her career in politics has been characterized by a commitment to progressive ideals and a focus on helping disenfranchised communities." A message that includes praise, unlike the one she issues of Trump, of whom she says nothing and does not even bring up his 'intelligence'.
A software responsible for the 'error'
Jeff Bezos' company claimed that giving such subjective answers came from an Alexa update that ran late last year, reported The Washington Post. Amazon developed new software aimed at making its AI more intelligent, blaming it as being responsible for the glitch.
Shortly after the above video surfaced, Amazon employees manually blocked Alexa from responding to questions about reasons to vote for specific candidates. However, upon restarting it, users asked it why Trump should not be voted for, to which the tool replied, "Some people are concerned about his policies such as his stance on immigration."
LATEST
