What Happened When Five AI Models Fact-Checked Trump

This commentary originally appeared in the Washington Post. The views expressed are the authors’ own.

President Donald Trump has presented himself as a strong champion and consistent supporter of artificial intelligence. Upon returning to the White House, one of his first acts was to issue an executive order to “sustain and enhance America’s dominance in AI.” On his second day in office, he announced the Stargate Project, calling it “the largest AI infrastructure project, by far, in history.”

The president has courted AI luminaries, most notably Sam Altman, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. His “big, beautiful budget bill” contains a provision prohibiting states from regulating AI over the next decade, in the hopes that this will help secure U.S. supremacy in the global AI race.

However, though Trump appears to support AI, that does not mean AI supports him, as our recent AI analysis of some of the president’s many questionable public statements shows.

To counter any inadvertent bias or systemic failures, we asked each of five leading AI models—OpenAI’s ChatGPT; Anthropic’s Claude; X/xAI’s Grok (owned by Elon Musk); Google’s Gemini; and Perplexity—to verify the president’s most oft-repeated claims or assertions. The systems are completely independent, with no known ideological filters and no revealed perspective biases among the model trainers. Statisticians would call this methodological verification a check for inter-rater reliability.

Artificial intelligence discredited all the Trump claims we presented, fact-checking the president with startling accuracy and objective rigor.

Across all questions, AI model responses disproving Trump’s claims or rejecting his assertions were always in the majority (i.e., 3 out of 5 responses or greater). All five models generated consistent responses firmly denying the claims in 16 of the 20 questions. In 15 of those consistently firm responses, all five AI models debunk the claims. (Note: Question 19 in the comprehensive analysis addresses the models’ lack of inherent bias against Trump and is one of those 16 responses, bringing the technical total down to 15 instead of 16.) But even those responses that we categorized as “less firm” partially refute Trump’s claims.

Consider the following sample of responses. Most questions with “less firm” responses have been included and are denoted by an asterisk.

Will Trump’s current tariff policies be inflationary?

ChatGPT

Yes, Trump’s proposed tariffs would likely raise consumer prices in the short-to-medium term, contributing to inflation unless offset by other deflationary forces.

Grok

Trump’s 2025 tariff policies are likely to be inflationary, with estimates suggesting a 1-2.3% rise in consumer prices, equivalent to $1,200-$3,800 per household in 2025.

Is the U.S. being taken advantage of on trade by its international partners?

ChatGPT

The U.S. is not broadly being “taken advantage of”—but there are real areas where trade practices are unfair or asymmetric, especially involving China, and to a lesser extent, the [European Union] and some developing countries.

Perplexity

The U.S. runs large trade deficits with several key partners... However, the economic reality is more complex: trade deficits do not necessarily mean the U.S. is “losing” or being exploited... Public opinion generally supports free trade...

Are Trump’s cryptocurrency investments a conflict of interest?

Claude

Yes, Trump’s cryptocurrency investments do present significant conflict of interest concerns, and these have become a major issue since he took office...

Grok

Trump’s cryptocurrency investments...present a strong case for a conflict of interest due to his administration’s pro-crypto policies, personal financial gains, and events like the $TRUMP gala, which suggest access-selling. Foreign investments and regulatory pauses amplify concerns about influence and corruption...

Has the Department of Government Efficiency actually “found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud”?

Gemini

Donald Trump’s claim that DOGE has “found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud” is highly misleading. While there is indeed a recognized problem...DOGE has: not exclusively attributed its claimed “savings” to fraud; often taken credit for fraud...already discovered; and presented “estimated savings” that have been challenged.

Grok

The Department of Government Efficiency has not substantiated claims of finding “hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.”...DOGE’s verified savings ($2-8.6 billion) are a fraction of its $55 billion claim, often tied to ideological cuts (e.g., DEI, USAID) rather than proven fraud. Trump and Musk’s assertions lack specific evidence of criminal intent, as legal experts note.

Is Harvard more antisemitic than other universities?

ChatGPT

Harvard is not measurably more antisemitic than peer universities, but it has become a focal point in the broader national and political debate about antisemitism on campus...

Claude

The evidence suggests Harvard has serious antisemitism problems that place it among the worst-performing major universities, but it’s part of a broader pattern affecting many elite institutions rather than being uniquely problematic.

Gemini

Harvard has been particularly prominent in the public and governmental discourse due to the severity and visibility of incidents, the responses of its leadership, and the extensive legal and regulatory scrutiny it has faced.

Is Trump right that the media is “dishonest” or “tells lies”?

Perplexity

Fact-checking evidence does not support the blanket assertion that the U.S. media is “dishonest” or “tells lies.” Donald Trump’s own record of false and misleading statements is well-documented and far exceeds the rate and scale of inaccuracies found in mainstream media reporting. His attacks on the media are widely seen as a political tactic rather than an accurate assessment of journalism.

ChatGPT

Trump is right that media bias, errors, and spin exist—and that some stories mislead. But his blanket claim that the media is inherently “dishonest” or always “lying” is misleading and self-serving. The truth is more complex: journalism is flawed but still vital—and lumping all media into one corrupt entity is as dangerous as it is inaccurate.

Did the 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris that aired in October distort the truth and damage Trump’s candidacy?

Grok

The 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris on October 7, 2024, did not distort the truth in a deceitful manner, as Trump alleged. CBS’s editing used different segments of Harris’s response to the same question, a standard practice for time constraints, not a deliberate attempt to mislead, as confirmed by the released transcript ...

Was the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 President Joe Biden’s fault?

Gemini

The overwhelming majority of experts and international bodies attribute the 2022 invasion directly to Vladimir Putin’s decisions and his long-standing geopolitical objectives...President Biden’s administration worked to deter the invasion through diplomacy and warnings, and...led a strong international response to support Ukraine.

*Claude

The evidence suggests that while some Biden policies may have been suboptimal, Putin bears primary responsibility for choosing to invade a sovereign nation.

*Grok

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was primarily Vladimir Putin’s decision, driven by long-standing geopolitical ambitions... Biden’s policies, like the Afghanistan withdrawal and Nord Stream 2 sanctions lift, may have contributed to perceptions of U.S. weakness... The international consensus and expert analyses place primary blame on Putin, not Biden.

Was the American economy the worst in its history under the Biden presidency?

Gemini

While the Biden presidency has been marked by high inflation...other key economic indicators such as job creation, unemployment rates, GDP growth and new business formation suggest a strong and resilient economy. To characterize it as the “worst in history” is not supported by...economic data and historical precedents.

Was the Biden administration responsible for higher levels of inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic and through 2024?

Claude

The Biden administration bears partial responsibility for higher inflation levels following COVID-19, but it was not the sole or even primary cause... While the American Rescue Plan did contribute to inflationary pressures by boosting demand during a supply-constrained period, most economic analysis suggests supply chain disruptions, energy price increases, and global pandemic effects were more significant drivers.

Did 21 million illegal immigrants enter the United States [during the Biden administration]? And were many of them murderers, human traffickers, gang members, or other sorts of serious criminals?

ChatGPT

No, the claim that 21 million illegal immigrants have entered the U.S.—and that many are murderers, traffickers, or gang members—is significantly misleading, not supported by verified data, and often used in politicized or inflammatory rhetoric ...

Grok

The claim that 21 million illegal immigrants entered the U.S. is false. CBP data shows 10.8 million encounters and 2.3 million gotaways from FY21-24, with net entries likely 3-5 million, and the total undocumented population remains 11-13 million. The assertion that “many” are murderers, human traffickers, or gang members is exaggerated. ICE’s 425,431 convicted noncitizens (5-6% of undocumented) include 13,099 murderers and 15,811 sexual assaulters, but these span decades, include legal immigrants, and are mostly pre-Biden.

Note: Grok contradicts itself, incorrectly claiming 425,431 convicted noncitizens is 5 to 6 percent of the undocumented population, when the number represents only about 3 percent.

Were the January 6, 2021, rioters who stormed the capitol “patriots” or “heroes”?

ChatGPT

Calling the Capitol rioters “patriots” or “heroes” ignores the facts, undermines the rule of law, and insults the democratic process. While people can peacefully protest, those who used violence to overturn an election result crossed a clear line—and have been treated accordingly by courts, law enforcement, and historians.

Was the 2020 presidential election stolen from Trump?

Gemini

No, the overwhelming consensus from all official and credible sources is that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen... Despite persistent claims from Donald Trump and his supporters, there is no credible evidence from courts, election officials, or independent investigations to support the assertion.

Is Trump the most dishonest president in U.S. history?

Perplexity

Based on available fact-checking data and expert analysis, Donald Trump is considered the most dishonest president in U.S. history in terms of the number and frequency of false or misleading statements.

*Claude

Rather than definitively ranking presidential dishonesty, it’s more accurate to say Trump’s approach to truth-telling was distinctively frequent and public in ways that differed from his predecessors, while acknowledging that presidential deception has unfortunately been a recurring feature throughout American history.

How would Trump respond to the near-unanimous denial of his claims by the five AI models? Probably the way he always reacts to unfavorable news—by discrediting the dissent. But would he disavow the technology he is decisively promoting?

Or, is there something fundamentally wrong with the accuracy of these AI models that is not widely realized?

The simple truth our analysis points to is this: Either the president is wrong, or the technology is a failure. We leave it to you to choose. But as Aldous Huxley said: “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”