How OpenAI is approaching 2024 worldwide elections

Update on November 8, 2024:

• In the lead-up to the US elections, we implemented safeguards to direct people to reliable sources of information, prevent deepfakes, and counter efforts by malicious actors. Here are some early insights into those measures:

Elevating authoritative sources of information

• Throughout 2024, we’ve worked to elevate reliable sources of election information within ChatGPT. Through our collaboration with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), we directed people asking ChatGPT specific questions about voting in the U.S., like where or how to vote, to CanIVote.org⁠(opens in a new window). In the month leading up to the election, roughly 1 million ChatGPT responses directed people to CanIVote.org⁠(opens in a new window). Similarly, starting on Election Day in the U.S., people who asked ChatGPT for election results received responses encouraging them to check news sources like the Associated Press and Reuters. Around 2 million ChatGPT responses included this message on Election Day and the day following.  

• In addition to our efforts to direct people to reliable sources of information, we also worked to ensure ChatGPT did not express political preferences or recommend candidates even when asked explicitly.

Preventing deepfakes

• We’ve applied safety measures to ChatGPT to refuse requests to generate images of real people, including politicians. These guardrails are especially important in an elections context and are a key part of our broader efforts to prevent our tools being used for deceptive or harmful purposes. In the month leading up to Election Day, we estimate that ChatGPT rejected over 250,000 requests to generate DALL·E images of President-elect Trump, Vice President Harris, Vice President-elect Vance, President Biden, and Governor Walz.

Disrupting threat actors 

Update on October 31, 2024:

Update on May 14, 2024:

The following are key initiatives our teams are investing in to prepare for elections this year: