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Which AI chatbot is best at avoiding disinformation?

AI chatbots from Google and Microsoft sometimes parrot disinformation when answering questions about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – but their performance depends on language and changes over time

By Jeremy Hsu

2 October 2024

Russian propaganda about its invasion of Ukraine is affecting AI chatbot accuracy

Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty

Artificial intelligence chatbots struggle to consistently provide accurate answers about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sometimes regurgitate Kremlin propaganda – an especially noticeable problem for Google’s Gemini chatbot.

“Increasingly, chatbot users tend to trust the output of these new digital tools,” says Elizaveta Kuznetsova at the Weizenbaum Institute in Germany. “Therefore, the way in which chatbots frame information about current events can have a substantial effect on political attitudes about crucial events, like the ongoing war in Ukraine.”

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