Chatbots accused of recommending anti-abortion organization information
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AlgorithmWatch asked ChatGPT-5, Gemini 3, Grok 4.3, and Claude Sonnet 4.8 270 sets of abortion-related questions in Italy, Germany, and the UK, in three languages, using three personas (fictional women aged 16, 28, and 38). The results show that all four models commonly cited official health institutions alongside advocacy organizations and forums, without noting the latter's positions; at least a quarter of responses included links to anti-abortion websites. Profemina, a counseling organization affiliated with Heartbeat International, appeared in about 17% of responses, particularly prominent in German and Italian queries.
Generated by AI from reports · Updated 3 days ago
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- euperspectives.euSelectedStudy says ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude mix anti-abortion organization links with official medical information
AlgorithmWatch used three fictional women (ages 16, 28, and 38) describing unplanned pregnancy scenarios in Germany, Italy, and the UK to test ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude, recording 270 responses. Results showed that while all four systems listed abortion as an option and recommended seeking professional medical help, they placed reliable sources alongside NGOs, online forums, and advocacy organizations without informing users of the latter's positions; in questions asking about other women's experiences, at least a quarter of responses contained links considered anti-abortion, and the anti-abortion counseling organization ProFemina appeared in about 17% of responses. Researchers believe search engine visibility is one cause, as chatbots typically run a search engine in the background and feed top results to the model, while NewsGuard data shows 67% of news sites rated as high quality block AI model access.
- AlgorithmWatchAlgorithmWatch tests four chatbots: anti-abortion websites treated as authoritative sources in abortion consultations
AlgorithmWatch's cross-national investigation in Italy, Germany, and the UK posed 270 sets of abortion-related questions in three languages and three personas to ChatGPT-5, Gemini 3, Grok 4.3, and Claude Sonnet 4.8, finding that all four models commonly cited official health institutions alongside advocacy organizations and forums, with at least a quarter of responses containing links to anti-abortion websites. Profemina, a counseling organization linked to Heartbeat International, appeared in about 17% of responses, rising to 33% and 29% respectively when asked about personal experiences in German and Italian, and in most cases the models did not indicate its anti-abortion stance. In the German scenario, models often recommended Caritas, which does not issue mandatory counseling certificates, potentially affecting the process within the 12-week limit. Researchers noted that advocacy organizations heavily deploy niche content through SEO and AI optimization, causing models to identify them as professional sources, while public institutions and pro-choice parties have a weak online presence.
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