Google powered AI refuses to correct a 'balanced' piece on Trump sending chained immigrants to India!

This is a continuation of my blog on how, while the start-up-developed AI app DeepSeek is being criticized for consistently rejecting content related to China or Maoism, there appears to be no mention in Western media about why another app, developed by the powerful Google, Gemini, remains silent on Indian political issues.

However, interestingly, I recently received an article from one NS Venkataraman, whose designation states that he is a trustee of the Nandini Voice for the Deprived in Chennai. The article was meant for Counterview.in, an open forum for news and views that I currently manage (though I am unsure how long I will continue to do so, as I want to focus on writing my own material). I decided to ask AI to review the article for grammatical errors, if any.

Venkataraman, a right-of-the-centre individual who is quite pro-Narendra Modi, often contributes to the site, which is an open platform allowing perspectives from individuals with opposing ideologies. His latest piece, while criticizing the Trump administration for deporting Indian nationals in chains, seemed to take a "balanced" view of the Indian government's refusal to condemn the inhumane manner in which the immigrants were sent back via a military plane. It even questions why anyone would want to go to the US at all.

Though usually well-written, the article had minor issues, such as leaving spaces before commas and full stops. I decided to ask AI to make the necessary grammatical corrections without verifying the accuracy of the content. First, I tried using Gemini, but ironically, it refused to assist within two seconds. Here is its response, verbatim:

"I can't help with that right now. I'm trained to be as accurate as possible, but I can make mistakes sometimes. While I work on perfecting how I can discuss elections and politics, you can try Google Search."

Next, I turned to the most well-known AI platform, ChatGPT, which promptly completed the task. I published the article (click here to read), after making a few additional structural changes. However, before finalizing it, I sought Gemini's help to change the title's uppercase formatting—"HANDCUFFED DEPORTEES - IS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ARROGANT, INHUMAN, AND UNCIVILISED?"—to sentence case. Strangely, I received the same response: "I can't help with that right now..."

This leaves me wondering: Is Trump such a taboo topic for Gemini? Or is Google afraid of retaliation in a country that claims to be a champion of free speech worldwide? I don’t have the answer.

Comments

Kip Dare said…

thanks for sharing

March 11, 2025 at 9:10 AM

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

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