US President Donald Trump rolled out what he described as a “damn good” AI chatbot, only for the new tool to quickly make headlines by contradicting some of his most disputed political assertions.
By the following day, however, it had stopped responding to certain political queries.
“Hello, America. Whatever you need from government, start here,” reads America.gov, the platform Mr Trump launched as part of an effort to make it easier for the public to find government information and access federal services.
Almost immediately, the site’s chatbot began clashing with Mr Trump’s narrative on polarising topics — including the 2020 presidential election, which he wrongly claims to have won, and the 6 January 2021 insurrection in which a violent mob attacked the US Capitol.
“On its first day, America.gov harnessed facts and official documents to contradict some of the false narratives and political framing about immigration and elections heavily promoted by the administration that built it,” the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas said.
It was unclear whether the Trump administration had tweaked the settings to prevent the chatbot from debunking the president
“Initial analyses found that America.gov generally provided evidence-based answers backed by government records, even when those records contradicted claims made by Trump and his administration.”
Asked whether there had been widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, the chatbot replied: “Official federal assessments after the 2020 presidential election did not find fraud at a scale that changed the outcome.”
Democratic politicians moved quickly to amplify the chatbot’s answer on the election.
“Finally, a straight answer from someone in the Trump administration,” Senator Adam Schiff of California wrote on X, posting a screenshot of the chatbot’s statement that former president Joe Biden had won the 2020 election.
Yesterday, though, the chatbot delivered a different response when presented with the same question. “I do not provide political commentary or analysis of past elections,” it said.
It was unclear whether the Trump administration had adjusted the chatbot’s settings to stop it from disputing the president’s claims.
“America.gov will continue to be updated to provide Americans the most accurate and reliable federal information and resources,” a White House official said in a statement, without offering details.
Debunking further contentious claims
Even so, the chatbot continued to challenge other contested assertions from Mr Trump.
When queried about Mr Trump’s widely debunked claim that the United States suffered the “worst inflation” ever under former president Biden, the chatbot rejected that characterisation.
“No. Official Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) data do not show the highest US inflation on record during 2021-2025.”
“‘Worst inflation ever’ is not supported by the official CPI record.”
The debut of the new government platform arrives amid a rise in cyber incidents that has intensified global anxiety about the dangers of uncontrollable AI, with some technology leaders calling for a slow-down on safety grounds.
Mr Trump has brushed aside those warnings, casting them as a conspiracy aimed at weakening US economic growth and limiting competition with China.
