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The Washington Post tested the citation sources in election answers from AI products by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Perplexity. Working with Promptwatch, the newspaper took one address from each of about 3,100 U.S. counties and had these products generate voter guides for November 2026. The tests showed that ChatGPT cited Ballot Brief in 22% of election-related answers, and Microsoft Copilot did so in 75% of them, but the site's candidate profiles contained multiple errors, one of which Copilot repeated to a questioner; chatbots often misidentified congressional districts or refused to answer. After the report, OpenAI adjusted its model, and in a second round of testing the share of ChatGPT answers citing the site fell to 4%; Microsoft said it had prioritized authoritative sources and official state election websites.
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Oct 31
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How did Ballot Brief, a site almost no one visits, become an election information source for ChatGPT and Copilot?
The Washington Post's tests showed that ChatGPT cited Ballot Brief in 22% of election-related answers, and Microsoft Copilot did so in 75% of cases, but the site's candidate profiles contain multiple errors, one of which was repeated by Copilot to a questioner. Working with Promptwatch, the newspaper took one address from each of about 3,100 U.S. counties and asked AI products from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Perplexity to generate voter guides for November 2026; the chatbots often misidentified congressional districts or refused to answer. After the report, OpenAI adjusted its model, and in a second round of testing the share of ChatGPT answers citing the site fell to 4%; Microsoft said it had prioritized authoritative sources and official state election websites.