One month after a gunman’s failed attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability said it is launching an investigation into Meta’s AI assistant and Google's search autocomplete function. 

What You Need To Know

  • The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability said it is launching an investigation into Meta’s AI assistant and Google Search’s Autocomplete function

  • Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday that both programs generated inaccurate or irrelevant information related to the incident, which wounded Trump and left one man dead

  • Chairman Comer wrote letters to the CEOs of Google and Meta asking for information and documents about how their AI assistants are designed

  • The committee said it was concerned with how large tech companies influence public opinion

Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday that both programs generated inaccurate or irrelevant information related to the incident, which wounded Trump and left one man dead.

“Americans rely upon prominent internet search engines such as Google to gather news and information critical to their understanding of national politics and events — and never more so than during a presidential election season,” Comer wrote in a letter to Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai seeking documents about how Google designs its search and autocomplete functions.

The committee wrote a similar letter to Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg seeking information and documents about how it designed, reviewed, managed and updated its AI chatbot.

In a statement, the committee said it was concerned with how large tech companies influence public opinion.

“On behalf of the American people, the Committee is dedicated to fully understanding when and how information is being suppressed or modified, whether it be due to technical error, a policy intended to ensure safety or a specific intent to mislead,” Comer’s letter to Pichai said.

He cited Google searches about the Trump assassination attempt that yielded information about the attempted assassinations of other presidents, including Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, while omitting information about the Trump assassination. 

Comer said Meta’s AI assistant answered a query about whether the Trump assassination attempt was fictional by saying there “was no real assassination attempt on Donald Trump. I strive to provide accurate and reliable information, but sometimes mistakes can occur.”