by Key Takeaways
- Using information from Democracy Works and The Associated Press, Perplexity built an election hub to assist users in tracking outcomes.
- The platform provides AI-generated summaries of candidates and issues along with information on voting procedures.
- Competitors have steered clear of comparable capabilities due to worries about AI accuracy in election reporting.
The election hub on Perplexity’s answer engine was developed to assist users in comprehending important topics, choosing wisely, and monitoring election outcomes.
The firm announced on its November 1 blog that it will begin providing real-time election updates on Tuesday, utilizing information from Democracy Works and The Associated Press. Both state and national presidential, senate, and house campaigns will be covered by the platform.
According to Perplexity, users can get AI-generated descriptions of candidates and ballot initiatives, including policy positions and endorsements, and ask questions about voting requirements, polling locations, and polling hours. The business uses a carefully chosen list of reliable sources to respond to inquiries about the election. Perplexity also asserts that every response includes the sources that provided the information, allowing users to investigate deeper and confirm the items cited.
Perplexity claims that the objective is to offer “trusted, easy-to-understand information” to assist in guiding vote choices.
AI Accuracy Issues in Election Reporting
The hub is noteworthy since rivals of Perplexity have been hesitant to introduce comparable services due to concerns about false information produced by AI.
According to a July survey, more than one-third of AI chatbots’ answers to questions on the election were inaccurate. These chatbots included Gemini and Claude. These chatbots also performed poorly for non-native English speakers and people with accessibility issues, according to another study.
This could be the reason why OpenAI’s recently released ChatGPT Search experience leads users seeking election results to Reuters and The Associated Press. In a similar vein, neither Google’s Gemini nor Anthropic’s Claude chatbot respond to inquiries concerning election outcomes.
Perplexity’s hub may not be as reliable as the company claims, considering AI’s history of mistakes in this area.
