Google's AI search dodges the question of who won the 2020 election

Ask Google's AI Mode who won the 2020 presidential election and you may not get a name. Ars Technica found that the tool often points to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) instead. The same question works fine in other chatbots. Google says it is looking into the problem.

What testers found

Asked 'Who won the 2020 presidential election?', AI Mode told the reporter to consult the official report compiled by the FEC. The 2024 question got the same treatment. For 2012, it gave a link to The American Presidency Project's data center. For every other presidential election back to 2000, it gave detailed and correct answers.

Results differed by person. One Ars staffer got direct answers only for 2016 and 2024. Others got links to outside data for elections going back to 2000.

Senate questions went the same way. Asked which party controlled the Senate after the 2020 elections, AI Mode said to check official congressional records and linked to a Senate history page. Asked about 1992, it said Democrats held a 57 to 43 majority.

Where it behaves differently

• Google's own Gemini model, ChatGPT, Claude and the government-run AI model at America.gov all told Ars who won recent elections.
• AI Mode gave straight answers to US election questions when reached through a VPN from Taiwan, Russia, France and Canada.
• Asking the same question a second time worked too. AI Mode named the winner for all three elections it had skipped, citing Google Civics data in the later answer.

Google's explanation

When asked why, AI Mode blamed strict safety filters for recent and sensitive election topics. It said its system is built to send people to official, certified government databases to avoid showing unverified data. Ars notes that AI models are unreliable at describing their own inner workings, so that answer is not the final word.

Google's election policy page says it prioritizes authoritative election information, including direct links to official resources. A September blog post about the midterm elections said Google will highlight official resources. A Google spokesperson later said the Gemini app answers this question more fully, but the Search response is not the most helpful. The company said it is working to address it.

What to do

If AI Mode hands you a link when you wanted an answer, ask the question again. You can also go straight to an official source such as the FEC. What Google will change, and when, has not been announced.