Meta AI lifts restrictions on Indian election while Google continues to apply limits

Meta lifts its ban on Indian election queries, but Google keeps its global restrictions in place even after the election is over.

Since India’s elections are over and the new government has begun its term, Meta has lifted its ban on asking Meta AI chatbot questions about the elections. However, Google is still limiting these types of queries as part of its global rules.

With the lifting of Meta’s restrictions, you can now search for questions about India’s election results, politicians, and public office holders. Meta didn’t say anything about this.

When the Indian election started in April, the company began blocking some political queries.

While that was going on, Meta AI would send people to the Election Commission’s website when they asked about politicians, candidates, officeholders, and political parties.

“Because this is a new technology, it might not always give us the answer we want. This is true for all generative AI systems.”

“Ever since we launched, we’ve been putting out updates and improvements to our models, and we’re still working to make them better,” a company representative said at the time.

In India, Meta’s AI chatbot is still in the testing phase, so only a select few can use it on WhatsApp and Instagram.

On Monday, Google released the Gemini AI app for Android in India. It works with nine Indian languages. However, as a general policy, the company is not lifting the limits on questions about the election. The business confirmed that these limits are still in use.

As a safety measure, Gemini is limiting the types of election-related queries it will answer and instead sending people to Google Search.

This is because major elections are happening all over the world this year. “These rules apply all over the world,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Early this year, the search giant started limiting these queries in any global market where elections were happening. But it’s not clear if or when Google will lift the restrictions.

This is especially true in places where elections are over and new governments have taken over.

Meta vs. Google: Handling political chatbots amidst controversy

For Meta and Google, the way they handle chatbots that answer political questions is different. While Meta only limited queries for a short time, Google is still blocking all election-related queries around the world.

It’s not clear if this choice has anything to do with the fact that Google’s AI has been wrong several times this year.

Some chatbots, like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, do a bit of everything. Who won the 2024 Indian election?

This is a question that neither bot can answer. When we ask about officeholders and politicians, these tools use the web.

People are already closely monitoring companies developing AI tools to detect bias and false information in their outputs.

As these companies expand their AI applications, they aim to avoid becoming embroiled in political disputes.