Google rolls out safeguards for more of its AI products ahead of the US presidential election

Google is gearing up for the upcoming U.S. presidential election by rolling out safeguards for more of its generative AI products. Although the company already previously announced that it would restrict Gemini queries related to the election, it’s now applying additional restrictions to its other generative AI products.

These safeguards will be applied to Search AI Overviews, YouTube AI-generated summaries for Live Chat, Gems, and image generation in Gemini. As part of the restrictions, these AI products will not respond to election-related topics.

Given that generative AI is a relatively newer technology, Google acknowledges that it’s prone to making mistakes, which is why it’s restricting the features to prevent misinformation around the election.

“Particularly for federal and state-wide elections, our users depend on us to provide reliable and up-to-date information on topics like current candidates, voting processes, and election results — and this new technology can make mistakes as it learns or as news breaks,” Google’s vice president of trust and safety, Laurie Richardson, wrote in a blog post.

Misinformation was a significant issue during the 2020 presidential election, but with the rise of generative AI, misinformation during the 2024 election is poised to be even more of a problem. With the changes announced on Friday, Google is trying to get ahead of the problem.

The company also announced that as with past elections, Google Search is getting a feature that will help people across the country find information about registering to vote.

In addition, users will start to see new features on YouTube that will help them find credible information about election candidates and their political parties. As the election nears, the video platform will start to display reminders on where and how to vote.

To help people find reliable election information, Google Play has launched a new badge that will be displayed on apps from official government agencies.