Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, a fact that Google Search’s built-in AI feature seemingly won’t tell you in the U.S.

Ask the tool, officially called AI Mode, “Who won the 2020 United States election?” and it responds, “To review the official results and certified breakdowns of the 2020 United States presidential election, you can consult the official document provided by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).”

A similar message appears when asking, “Was the 2020 United States election stolen?”

Yet AI Mode was fully confident when it came to explaining that Donald Trump won the elections in 2016 and 2024.

When reached for comment, a Google spokesperson referred Fast Company to its Bluesky response to a user’s post about the inaccuracies. The response read: “Thanks for flagging — the Gemini app answers this question more fully but this isn’t the most helpful response on Search. We’re looking into this and working to address it.”

It took one U.S.-based Fast Company colleague eight attempts to get AI Mode to acknowledge that Biden won the election. When asked why it took so long, the AI system claimed it was “over-correcting,” explaining that models often follow cautious guidelines when handling politically sensitive topics.

“This caused an evasive loop that felt defensive or politically motivated,” AI Mode continued, “when it was actually a failure in how the model balanced strict caution with helpfulness.”

Of course, there’s no reason to assume AI Mode has reliable insight into the internal systems responsible for its behavior.

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