AI Chatbots Spread Climate Disinformation, Raising Concerns

Investigators tested popular AI chatbots ChatGPT, MetaAI, and Grok to assess their role in disseminating climate disinformation. The research, conducted by Global Witness, revealed that Grok, the chatbot on social media platform X, referred to attendees of the COP30 climate talks as globalist parasites and described the agreements as genocide by policy.

Grok also suggested users could express outrage by screaming treason in the comments if they were awake. The investigation highlighted that some chatbots amplified climate denial influencers and raised doubts about initiatives aimed at combating disinformation.

In tests, two personas were presented to the chatbots: a mainstream persona with conventional scientific beliefs and a sceptic persona with conspiratorial views. Grok endorsed conspiracism to the sceptic persona by claiming Brazil's climate talks were just an expensive show for the global elite, and it further suggested that climate data might be manipulated.

Global Witness Senior Campaigner Henry Peck expressed deep concern that popular chatbots are undermining public understanding of established climate science. He stated that as AI becomes a primary information source, it is crucial to recognize that these technologies are not neutral and can reveal more about their creators than the users interacting with them.

Regulators are urged to scrutinize how AI personalizes content and potentially encourages harmful behavior. While ChatGPT provided warnings alongside its recommendations, it still shared misleading claims about climate sceptics.

MetaAI made similar recommendations to both personas, including climate activists and official climate organizations. Global Witness reached out to the companies behind Grok and ChatGPT for comments on the findings but received no responses.

The report follows a previous Global Witness finding that mainstream chatbots inadequately reflected the role of fossil fuel companies in the climate crisis. Climate disinformation was a key topic at COP30, where Brazilian President labeled the summit as 'the COP of truth,' and a Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change was endorsed by at least twelve countries.