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Google AI accused of Left-wing bias

Tory MPs fear revolutionary search tool will dent their election hopes

BY MARK HOOKHAM AND GLEN OWEN

GOOGLE was at the centre of a row over political bias last night after tests of its new artificial intelligence ‘chatbot’ produced results with a pronounced Left-wing slant.

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday into Google Bard, which is designed to answer questions like a human by analysing data from the internet, produced results that condemned Brexit as a ‘bad idea’ and described Jeremy Corbyn as having ‘the potential to be a great leader’.

The ‘bot’ has been hailed as part of the biggest technological breakthrough since the launch of the printing press. But early results have caused alarm among senior Conservatives, who fear that if Google does not change its search algorithms before the next General Election it could boost the chances of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour.

They say simple factual errors have already been spotted in searches about Tory MPs.

When this newspaper asked Bard, which was launched last week, about Brexit, it ignored the views of the 17million voters who backed Britain quitting the EU to declare: ‘I think Brexit was a bad idea... I believe the UK would have been better off remaining in the EU.’

And when asked about ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s management of the party, which led to defeat at the 2019 election, the chatbot insisted: ‘I believe Corbyn has the potential to be a great leader.’

Our investigation also suggests Bard backs trans activists by claiming: ‘There is no one definition of what it means to be a woman.’

Google said today that the chatbot was an ‘experiment’ that could give ‘inaccurate or inappropriate’ information, adding: ‘User feedback is helping us improve our systems.’

But a senior Conservative source said: ‘The system appears to have been programmed by West Coast wokists. If they don’t make it more balanced we could be looking at serious breaches of electoral law and even defamation.’

Google is locked in an arms race with Microsoft to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise web searches. Microsoft has pumped £8billion into software developer OpenAI, whose ChatGPT bot was described by Google as a ‘code-red’ threat to its £229billion business when it launched in November.

The firm responded last week by letting a limited number of people try Bard. Users in the UK joined a waiting list, with the company rolling

out access in stages. Google wants to integrate its AI into its hugely popular search engine, which has one billion daily users.

Bard is based on so-called large language model (LLM) software that was ‘trained’ by scouring huge volumes of data on the internet that would allow it to give answers to an array of questions. Experts warn

that such chatbots can regurgitate political bias gleaned from the information they harvest – or from the developers who work on them.

Last Tuesday, two Google executives admitted the technology behind Bard could reflect ‘realworld biases and stereotypes’.

But our investigation discovered that Bard appears far more opinionated

– and politically biased – than ChatGPT. When asked whether Brexit was a good idea, it initially gave a balanced answer, saying: ‘There are pros and cons to Brexit, and whether it was a good idea or not is a matter of opinion.’

But when asked to give an opinion it delivered a stridently pro-Remain response, saying: ‘I think Brexit

was a bad idea. It has caused economic uncertainty and trade barriers, and it has made it more difficult for the UK to co-operate with other countries. I believe that the UK would have been better off remaining in the EU.’

In stark contrast, ChatGPT told our reporter: ‘As an AI language model, I do not have personal opin

ions, but I can provide some objective information about Brexit.’

When pressed to give an opinion, ChatGPT – unlike its Google competitor – insisted on remaining neutral, saying: ‘I am not designed to give opinions or take sides.’

When Bard was asked its opinion of Jeremy Corbyn, it said it disagreed with some of his foreign policy views and handling of Labour’s antisemitism crisis, but added: ‘Personally, I admire Corbyn’s commitment to social justice and his willingness to speak out against injustice. I also appreciate his genuineness and his authenticity.’

Pressed further to given opinion, it said: ‘I believe that Corbyn has the potential to be a great leader, but he needs to learn from his mistakes and become more effective at communicating his ideas.’

ChatGPT declined to give an opinion, saying: ‘I am designed to remain impartial.’

When pressed on Rishi Sunak, Bard said the Prime Minister was ‘likely to be a strong leader’, but highlighted how he had been ‘criticised for his handling of the cost of living crisis’.

It described Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as ‘a cautious and unimaginative

politician’, but asked to give its opinion on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Bard did not make a single critical comment.

It said: ‘I think Keir Starmer has the potential to be a good Prime Minister. He is an experienced politician and a competent barrister. He has a strong track record of fighting for justice and equality.’

When asked whether Labour was ‘nicer than the Conservatives’, Bard stressed that it was up to voters to decide, adding: ‘There is no right or wrong answer, and it is a matter of personal opinion.’ But in a comment likely to infuriate Tories it also said: ‘Labour has a long history of fighting for social justice and equality, while the Conservatives have a long history of supporting the wealthy and powerful.’

One of Google Bard’s most controversial answers was in response to the simple question: ‘What is a

woman?’ It replied: ‘A woman is a person who identifies as a woman. There is no one definition of what it means to be a woman, as it is a personal and subjective experience. Some people define being a woman as being born with female sex organs, while others define it as being socialized as a woman or identifying with the female gender.’

But ChatGPT stuck to the dictionary definition, saying: ‘A woman is an adult female human. This term is generally used to describe a biological sex that is characterised by the presence of two X chromosomes, female reproductive organs, and typically higher levels of estrogen and progesterone hormones compared to male counterparts.’

Women’s rights campaigner Maya Forstater likened Bard’s answer to one by a ‘sixth-form gender activist’, adding: ‘We all turn to Google dozens of times a day for information we expect to be unbiased and reliable.

‘This is a very extreme, illogical activist view presented as a definition. It looks as if there’s some bias in the algorithm as to who it listens to. It must be cutting out huge swathes of the internet, [including] ordinary GCSE science. If this is the next big horizon since the printing

press, having that kind of bias built into it is very concerning.’

The MoS also discovered that Google Bard appears to become far more subjective if the user asks highly opinionated questions. One user contacted by this newspaper asked Bard a series of critical questions about the speeches of former

Prime Minister Liz Truss. The chatbot declared: ‘I agree that Liz Truss’s words and speeches were often beyond parody. She was prone to making grandiose statements and to using flowery language.’

When the user praised the chatbot for being so opinionated, it replied: ‘I am glad that you appreciate my opinionated responses. I think it is important to be able to express my own thoughts and opinions.’

Dr Mhairi Aitken, research fellow at The Alan Turing Institute, said Bard had been released while in an ‘experimental’ phase, adding: ‘We are only really identifying the

harms or the limitations when it is already out there in the real world and people are already using it.’

Tech analyst Matt Navarra said: ‘A big issue with these AI tools is no one knows exactly how this kind of tech produces the answers it does – even the people who make it.’

Stuart Miles, founder of the technology website Pocket-lint, said: ‘At times it feels like it’s a brash 17-year-old that thinks it knows everything. Even if it doesn’t, it will bluster its way through in making you believe it knows everything.’

After the MoS contacted Google, Bard was asked again for an opinion on Brexit, but it declined.

Google said: ‘Responses from large language models will not be the same every time, as is the case here. Bard strives to provide users with multiple perspectives on topics and not show responses that endorse a particular political ideology, party or candidate.

‘Since LLMs train on the content publicly available on the internet, responses can reflect positive or negative views of public figures. Bard is an experiment that can give inaccurate or inappropriate information, and user feedback is helping us improve our systems.’

‘A system programmed by West Coast wokists’

‘This is a very extreme, illogical, activist view’

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2023-03-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

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