Less than a week after announcing a new Perplexity-powered AI search engine with reportedly tight reins on its sources, Truth Social’s AI tool is already contradicting its most famous co-founder.
Truth Search AI, a new platform-based answer bot built on Perplexity Sonar API, was launched by Trump Media and Technology Group to “increase the amount of information” available to users and offer “direct, contextually accurate answers with transparent citations.” Despite the commitment to a broader information environment, Perplexity representatives explained the search tool’s sources could be customized by its overseers (known as source selection). In early tests by Axios, Truth Search AI’s answers appeared to be limited to sourcing from traditionally conservative outlets, including FoxNews.com and FoxBusiness.com, compared to Perplexity’s standard engine.
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But, even with this curation, Truth Search AI isn’t easily falling in line with the Trump Administration’s standard talking points. In an analysis by the Washington Post, the AI tool repeatedly countered claims made by the President rather than reaffirming statements he has previously posted on Truth Social as factually correct, including the impact of international tariffs on American consumers and the need for federal intervention in what Trump has claimed is a crime-riddled national capital.
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“Their own AI is now being too ‘woke’ for them,” David Karpf, a George Washington University professor, told the publication. The tool still cited primarily conservative entertainment and news sources in its citations, but its conclusions might not be as cut and dry as expected. Trump Media declined to provide comment to the Washington Post, calling their findings “transparently asinine” reporting by “irrelevant partisan hacks.”
Part of what he claims to be a government-wide “truth-seeking” mission, Trump has recently attacked what he calls “Woke AI,” or Large Language Models that are, in his eyes, “ideologically biased” and driven by diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Last month, Trump issued an Executive Order intended to promote “unbiased AI” in federal contracting and national security. Meanwhile, the administration has brokered several deals with top AI companies to provide services to the federal government, including $200 million Pentagon contracts with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Elon Musk-owned xAI.