Aug 30, 2024 - Technology

Google extends election policies to most of its AI products

Google on a phone screen

Logo of Google is displayed on a mobile phone screen on August 20, 2024. (Photo by Omer Taha Cetin/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Google is rolling out new protections for its generative AI products as election season heats up.

Driving the news: Google on Friday said it would extend the policies it announced for its search and YouTube products last December to more of its AI products, including Search AI Overviews, YouTube AI-generated summaries for Live Chat, Gems, and image generation in Gemini.

Why it matters: Restrictions are already applied to some of Google's generative AI products, such as Search Generative Experience
(SGE) and Gemini, but now the restrictions are more widely extended across Google's AI ecosystem.

  • As part of these restrictions, Google will not show responses for a range of election-related topics including candidates, voting processes and election results on its AI products.

What they're saying: "We're taking a cautious approach because we want to get this right," the company said.

The big picture: The speed of consumer adoption around generative AI has forced tech companies to move quickly to address misinformation concerns, especially around the election.

  • It's essentially up to the industry to regulate uses of generative AI around elections, as Congress has yet to pass any bills and federal agencies look unlikely to take any meaningful action on AI in elections this year.
  • Most companies are adapting their existing election policies for their new AI experiences, including OpenAI.

What to watch: Generative AI will face one of its biggest tests ever on U.S. election night in November when voters will be looking for results online.

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