Perplexity launch controversial AI election hub

AI search start-up, Perplexity, has launched an AI-powered hub—the Election Information Hub—dedicated to providing voters with information about the upcoming US election. 

Voters can ask questions like where their local polling stations are, what time the polls open, and what the voting requirements are, and can get AI-generated summaries and analyses of candidates, ballot measures, official policy stances, and endorsements. And, from Tuesday, the hub will also provide live updates on elections so voters can stay “informed on presidential, senate, and house races at both a state and national level.”

The hub is powered by data from the Associated Press, which will provide the live updates and will also give per-state breakdowns, showing the percentage of votes counted and who’s leading. Democracy Works, which also powers a similar feature for Google, will provide the AI summaries and voting information, alongside a curated “set of the most trustworthy and informative sources,” including from Ballotpedia and news organizations, which are “non-partisan” and have all been “fact-checked.” 

Although the hub has been designed as “an entry point for understanding key issues,” it has already encountered accuracy issues, with users reporting mistakes and inaccuracies with the information it’s providing, such as failing to mention that  Robert F. Kennedy—who was listed on the ballot—had dropped out, for example. 

This follows a study, conducted in July, by the Center for Democracy and Technology, which discovered that, in response to 77 election-related queries, a third of the answers given by AI chatbots, including those from Anthropic and Google, were incorrect, and perhaps explains why tech giants—like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic—have steered clear of providing a similar service, instead getting their AI chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude) to either refuse to answer election-related questions or direct voters to specific and reputable sources, such as Reuters.