HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is demanding answers from Google executives regarding the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) system “Gemini” as the system may violate Montana law by providing inaccurate information to users to fall in line with the tech giant’s political preferences without disclosing that fact to consumers.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Google’s chief executive officer and chief legal officer, Attorney General Knudsen outlines his concerns with Gemini’s design and goals which appear to deliberately provide inaccurate information that furthers Google’s political agenda, while presenting that the goal of the system is to provide “high-quality and accurate” information to users.
As it appears to provide inaccurate information in order to align with the company’s political bias and may discriminate based on race or other protected characteristics, the AI system may violate the Montana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act (UTPCPA) and the Montana Human Rights Act (MHRA) which the attorney general is responsible for enforcing. Attorney General Knudsen asks Google to respond to his 15 questions regarding the program’s alleged biases by March 29.
“Google has offered Gemini to consumers in Montana and has represented that its goal is to create an AI system that provides ‘high-quality and accurate’ information. But behind the scenes, Google appears to have deliberately intended to provide inaccurate information, when those inaccuracies fit with Google’s political preferences. This fact was not disclosed to consumers,” Attorney General Knudsen wrote. “These representations and omissions may implicate the UTPCPA. Furthermore, if Google directed employees to build an AI system that discriminates based on race or other protected characteristics, that could implicate civil rights laws, including constituting a hostile work environment.”
According to news reports, Gemini has created inaccurate responses depicting the Founding Fathers, U.S. Senators in the 1800s, and famous physicists from the 1600s as other races and genders than they were. The system has also refused to create pictures of white families but created pictures of families of any other race; refused to answer whether Hamas was a terrorist organization but provided unambiguous answers about Israeli violence against Palestinians; and refused to provide information about the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Given the reports, Google’s statement that its goal is to provide “high-quality and accurate information” could constitute a deceptive statement under Montana’s UTPCPA.
It also appears that Google has incorporated the Biden administration’s efforts to politicize AI governance into the Gemini system. The White House’s ”Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” stated that developers should “conduct proactive equity assessments” for specific groups including “Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; women, girls, and non-binary people; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons; older adults; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality,” omitting groups such as Jews, Whites, men, boys, and heterosexuals. Outputs by the program are also consistent with pressure from the Chinese government or its affiliates.
Click here to read the letter.
###
