Assessing political bias and value misalignment in generative artificial intelligence

Fabio Y. S. Motoki; Valdemar Pinho Neto; Victor Rodrigues

doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106904

Assessing political bias and value misalignment in generative artificial intelligence

Fabio Y. S. Motoki
, Valdemar Pinho Neto
, Victor Rodrigues

Norwich Business School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

18 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Our analysis reveals a concerning misalignment of values between ChatGPT and the average American. We also show that ChatGPT displays political leanings when generating text and images, but the degree and direction of skew depend on the theme. Notably, ChatGPT repeatedly refused to generate content representing certain mainstream perspectives, citing concerns over misinformation and bias. As generative AI systems like ChatGPT become ubiquitous, such misalignment with societal norms poses risks of distorting public discourse. Without proper safeguards, these systems threaten to exacerbate societal divides and depart from principles that underpin free societies.

Original language	English
Article number	106904
Journal	Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Volume	234
Early online date	4 Feb 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106904
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025

Keywords

AI governance
Generative AI
Large language models
Multimodal
Societal values

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Motoki_etal_2025_JEBOFinal published version, 5.44 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "Assessing political bias and value misalignment in generative artificial intelligence",

abstract = "Our analysis reveals a concerning misalignment of values between ChatGPT and the average American. We also show that ChatGPT displays political leanings when generating text and images, but the degree and direction of skew depend on the theme. Notably, ChatGPT repeatedly refused to generate content representing certain mainstream perspectives, citing concerns over misinformation and bias. As generative AI systems like ChatGPT become ubiquitous, such misalignment with societal norms poses risks of distorting public discourse. Without proper safeguards, these systems threaten to exacerbate societal divides and depart from principles that underpin free societies.",

keywords = "AI governance, Generative AI, Large language models, Multimodal, Societal values",

author = "Motoki, \{Fabio Y. S.\} and \{Pinho Neto\}, Valdemar and Victor Rodrigues",

note = "Data availability: The data and code for replication is available at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VZRKWP Funding information: This study was financed in part by the Coordena{\c c}{\~a}o de Aperfei{\c c}oamento de Pessoal de N{\'i}vel Superior–Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106904",

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AU - Pinho Neto, Valdemar

AU - Rodrigues, Victor

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N2 - Our analysis reveals a concerning misalignment of values between ChatGPT and the average American. We also show that ChatGPT displays political leanings when generating text and images, but the degree and direction of skew depend on the theme. Notably, ChatGPT repeatedly refused to generate content representing certain mainstream perspectives, citing concerns over misinformation and bias. As generative AI systems like ChatGPT become ubiquitous, such misalignment with societal norms poses risks of distorting public discourse. Without proper safeguards, these systems threaten to exacerbate societal divides and depart from principles that underpin free societies.

AB - Our analysis reveals a concerning misalignment of values between ChatGPT and the average American. We also show that ChatGPT displays political leanings when generating text and images, but the degree and direction of skew depend on the theme. Notably, ChatGPT repeatedly refused to generate content representing certain mainstream perspectives, citing concerns over misinformation and bias. As generative AI systems like ChatGPT become ubiquitous, such misalignment with societal norms poses risks of distorting public discourse. Without proper safeguards, these systems threaten to exacerbate societal divides and depart from principles that underpin free societies.

KW - AI governance

KW - Generative AI

KW - Large language models

KW - Multimodal

KW - Societal values

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DO - 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106904

M3 - Article

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VL - 234

JO - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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Assessing political bias and value misalignment in generative artificial intelligence

Abstract

Keywords

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