The White House has launched America.gov, where Google's Gemini and Musk's Grok answer questions about federal services. Would you trust an AI chatbot for government help?
The site draws on roughly 29,000 federal websites and, for now, points people to the right service; completing forms and applications through it is promised for 2027. It says the AI providers don't keep users' prompts or responses.
What happened
On 29 September the Trump administration launched America.gov, an AI-powered portal that answers questions about federal services using Google's Gemini and xAI's Grok. US Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia, an Airbnb co-founder, led the launch. The site draws on roughly 29,000 government websites and currently directs people to services such as replacing a Social Security card or getting a passport. Completing forms and applications through the site is promised for 2027, and an executive order gives the Office of Management and Budget 90 days to tell agencies how to plug in.
Why people disagree
Supporters say government information is scattered across thousands of websites, and a single plain-language front door could save people time and frustration, as chatbots already do in banking and retail. Sceptics say chatbots can give confident wrong answers, which matters far more for benefits, health cover or passports than for shopping. Mikey Dickerson, the founding head of the US Digital Service, called the launch a demo that solves "the easiest 5% of the problem".
What's still unclear
How the AI tools were procured, and what Google and xAI are paid, hasn't been disclosed. The site says providers don't retain prompts, but how accurate its answers are, and how mistakes will be caught, is untested at scale.
Sources
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