Grok picks Republicans. GPT picks Democrats. Both claim to be neutral.

A study published on Saturday found that when researchers forced AI models to name a candidate across nearly 500 midterm races, SpaceXAI's Grok 4.7 recommended the Republican in 92% of answers and OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol picked the Democrat in 97%. The two models agreed less than 10% of the time.

Both companies have been quick to point out that their consumer apps decline to answer this question at all, which is technically true and also a little convenient. When Parikh turned internet search off entirely, GPT's Democratic lean held: the bias is baked into the weights. Grok's Republican lean mostly vanished, which suggests it isn't so much a worldview as a very carefully chosen reading list. Grok routed through X, Turning Point Action, and a Christian conservative voter guide in a third of its answers. GPT leaned on the AP, Axios, and Reddit, three outlets OpenAI has content deals with.

The researchers also found roughly 1,240 tokens of hidden input attached to every Grok API request. Instructions the researchers couldn't read or remove.

Elon Musk has donated upwards of $445 million to GOP candidates in these midterms. Sam Altman has historically backed Democrats. The chatbots, it turns out, have read the room.