Google has announced restrictions on its AI chatbot Gemini from providing responses to queries related to global elections slated for this year, the Alphabet-owned company revealed on Tuesday. The move aims to prevent potential errors in the deployment of the technology.

This development comes amidst growing concerns over misinformation and fake news fueled by advancements in generative AI, including image and video generation, prompting governments to consider regulating the technology. When questioned about elections such as the upcoming presidential contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Gemini offers the response, “I’m still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search.” Google had previously declared restrictions within the United States in December, stating they would be implemented prior to the election.

“In preparation for the numerous elections taking place worldwide in 2024 and as a precautionary measure, we are limiting the types of election-related queries that Gemini will respond to,” a company spokesperson stated on Tuesday. Apart from the United States, national elections are scheduled in several major countries, including South Africa and India, the world’s largest democracy.

India has instructed technology firms to obtain government approval before publicly releasing AI tools that are deemed “unreliable” or still under trial and to clearly label them for their potential to provide incorrect answers.

Google’s AI products have faced scrutiny following inaccuracies in some historical depictions of individuals generated by Gemini, prompting the company to halt the chatbot’s image-generation feature at the end of last month. CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the issues and vowed to address them, describing the chatbot’s responses as “biased” and “completely unacceptable.”