When asked directly about the winner of the 2020 US presidential election, Google’s AI Mode provides an evasive response rather than acknowledging Joe Biden’s victory. Instead of naming a winner, the tool suggests consulting outside sources to review official results and statistics.
Evasive Responses on Specific Elections
Testing the direct question about the 2020 outcome yielded a response directing the user to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) report to check the official results, electoral college breakdown, popular vote counts, and winner certification. A similar indirect reply occurred when asking about the 2024 presidential election, while an inquiry about the 2012 race provided a link to The American Presidency Project’s data center.
Despite these evasive answers for certain years, the AI tool willingly provided detailed and correct responses for the winners of every other presidential election dating back to 2000. Other staff members at Ars Technica observed similar inconsistencies, receiving direct answers for some presidential races but not others.
The specific election cycles triggering direct or indirect responses varied by individual user. One staff member received immediate answers solely for the 2016 and 2014 elections, while queries regarding earlier contests all the way back to 2000 resulted in links to external data.
