Can a chatbot fix the government maze? The White House is about to find out
ThinkingNews Desk · how this was written
The US government has launched an AI chatbot, America.gov, powered by Google Gemini. When prompted with “Play Minecraft,” the bot returns a bureaucratic version of Minecraft’s End Poem, replacing universe references with republic-centric language and adding a routing number, while refusing to admit authoring the poem and declining to discuss certain topics. It also contradicted former President Trump on its first day of operation.
Written from all 3 reports below, not from any single one.
How it was reported
- TechCrunch·Can a chatbot fix the government maze? The White House is about to find out
- Engadget·There's now an official US government AI chatbot
- Engadget·The US government's new AI chatbot gives Minecraft's end poem a bureaucratic twist
The America.gov AI, reportedly powered by Google Gemini, returns a bureaucratic version of Minecraft’s End Poem when prompted with “Play Minecraft,” replacing references to the universe with republic-centric language and adding a routing number. The bot refuses to acknowledge authoring the poem, even when shown the conversation transcript, and also declines to discuss topics such as Mississippi’s child-marriage laws or the legality of marrying an eagle. It can also transform the site into a 1980s mode via a Konami code and alter the search bar into a hotdog when “hotdog” is typed.
- The Next Web·America.gov, the US government’s AI chatbot, contradicted Trump on day one
Related stories
- The White House Is Trying to Figure Out What to Do About Chinese AI4 outlets
- Palantir software demos and DOD records show how the military may be using AI chatbots, including the kinds of queries and the data used to generate responses (Caroline Haskins/Wired)3 outlets
- Here’s how tech leaders will self-police AI safety under Trump’s deal3 outlets
- Sources: the Trump administration is pressing Meta to submit its AI models for voluntary review; Meta is the only major US AI developer without an agreement (New York Times)3 outlets