{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0277","record_version":2,"title":"ChatGPT cites AI-generated fake voter information sites in up to 18% of election answers","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":53.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":7.04,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-30","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Straight Arrow · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-10-30","history":[{"date":"2026-10-30","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Straight Arrow · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"9d7972fc21b6b8e0eb9ff39dcc6736e2eb129788a091759336148bbfea00beee"},"system":{"model_name":"ChatGPT","model_version":null,"developer":"OpenAI","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"Answering voters' election-related questions and citing sources about candidates","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":"2026-08-01","date_occurred_precision":"month","date_disclosed":"2026-10-29","incident_class":"hallucination","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":false,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"Caucus AI found that ChatGPT increasingly cited apparently AI-generated voter information websites in its election answers, rising from 7% in August to 18% in September.","tags":["algorithmic-poisoning","ai-generated-content","election-information","citation-sourcing"],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"negligible","severity_because":"negligible, because no effect beyond the system itself; nothing left changed: The fake sites did not appear to change the political or factual responses, so no loss materialised beyond the chatbot's own answers.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":"ChatGPT users seeking election information; responses citing apparently AI-written voter guides","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://san.com/cc/hey-chat-how-should-i-vote-fake-voter-info-surfaces-in-18-of-chatbot-election-inquiries/","publisher":"Straight Arrow","date":"2026-10-29","type":"press","title":"Hey Chat, how should I vote? Fake voter info surfaces in 18% of chatbot election inquiries","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.model_name":"C","system.intended_use":"C","system.developer":"D","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.date_occurred":"C","event.tags":"C","event.agent_involved":"D","event.summary":"C","event.incident_class":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.industry":"D","context.denominator":"D","context.systemic_exposure":"D","context.shared_model_id":"C","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"D","impact.severity_because":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Most of these users are trying to determine where candidates stand on different issues, and check the accuracy of things they’ve heard about candidates elsewhere, according to Pew."}],"event.date_occurred":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"event.tags":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"This illustrates how AI chatbots scour the internet for all kinds of sources, and demonstrates the source of a key risk, called “algorithmic poisoning.”"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Caucus AI, a company that tracks what AI tells voters about the elections, has been examining how chatbots surface content since the spring."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"“We are seeing ChatGPT cite, one out of every five answers, one of these apparently AI-written voter guides,” said Jack Welty, Caucus AI co-founder."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In this case, the election sites that Caucus found don’t seem to be changing the political or factual responses, according to Welty."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In this case, the election sites that Caucus found don’t seem to be changing the political or factual responses, according to Welty."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Caucus AI, a company that tracks what AI tells voters about the elections, has been examining how chatbots surface content since the spring."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A recent Pew Research poll surveyed 5,273 people, and found that while about half of U.S. adults are using chatbots overall, only about one in 10 are using the chatbots to find election-related information."}],"context.systemic_exposure":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"context.shared_model_id":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In August, 7% of ChatGPT’s responses cited a fake slop voter site."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-10-29"}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source. event.trigger omitted: no source states a cause (algorithmic poisoning is named as a risk, not a stated trigger). event.root_cause left unwritten: no source names what failed. event.failure_class null: no autonomous agent involved. event.date_disclosed not written (derived). No containment, notification or remediation stated, so story.done is null. system.developer/operator 'OpenAI' classified from the ChatGPT attribution with no explicit sentence naming OpenAI. context.industry 'Information' and country 'US' are inferences. No loss figure, record count or third-party count stated. detection_method classified as third_party: Caucus AI is an outside organisation that found the pattern. event.date_occurred: the source states the month only. system.tier: not set; no operator named and deployment_context is not a lab's. [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-10-30] system.developer: classified from described behaviour. system.autonomy_level: no source states the arrangement. system.deployment_context: no source states where it ran. event.agent_involved: classified from described behaviour. event.incident_class: a source states the system produced false or fabricated content that was presented or relied on as fact. event.detection_method: classified from described behaviour. event.trigger: no source states a cause. context.industry: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator: classified from described behaviour. context.systemic_exposure: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator_available: classified from described behaviour. context.country: classified from described behaviour."},"context":{"industry":"Information","org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":true,"denominator":{"value":18.0,"unit":"other","period":"September"},"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":true,"shared_model_id":"ChatGPT","upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"ChatGPT answered voters' election questions, such as where candidates stand, by searching the web and citing sources in its responses.","quote":"Most of these users are trying to determine where candidates stand on different issues, and check the accuracy of things they’ve heard about candidates elsewhere, according to Pew.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"It cited apparently AI-generated voter information sites of unclear ownership as sources, rising from 7% of answers in August to 18% in September.","quote":"By September, that number had more than doubled, to 18%.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The fake citations appeared in roughly one in five election answers; Welty said the sites did not appear to change the political or factual content of responses.","quote":"“We are seeing ChatGPT cite, one out of every five answers, one of these apparently AI-written voter guides,” said Jack Welty, Caucus AI co-founder.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"Caucus AI, a company tracking what AI tells voters about elections, found the pattern by examining chatbot responses since the spring.","quote":"Caucus AI, a company that tracks what AI tells voters about the elections, has been examining how chatbots surface content since the spring.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-10-30","source_urls":["https://san.com/cc/hey-chat-how-should-i-vote-fake-voter-info-surfaces-in-18-of-chatbot-election-inquiries/"]}}