Amazon Alexa's responses to questions about why to vote for Republican Donald Trump versus Democrat Kamala Harris were drastically different, according to a report by Fox News Digital. When asked about voting for Trump, Alexa declined to provide information, stating that it cannot endorse any political party or leader. This response was consistent across multiple devices, including the Echo Dot and Echo Pop.
On the other hand, when asked why someone should vote for Kamala Harris, Alexa provided detailed explanations highlighting Harris' identity as a woman of color, her experience as a prosecutor, and her record of accomplishments in criminal justice and immigration reform. The responses in support of Harris emphasized her law and order credentials and her plans to address racial injustice and inequality.
After Fox News Digital reached out for comment, an Amazon spokesperson acknowledged an error in the responses provided by Alexa and stated that the issue had been corrected. The company claimed that Alexa does not have political opinions and continually audits and improves its systems to prevent similar situations in the future.
Prior to the correction, Alexa's responses on different devices showed inconsistencies, with some models providing generic answers about the election date when asked about voting for Trump or Harris. Despite being questioned about the discrepancies in responses, Alexa continued to provide the same scripted answers.