Some of the largest AI chatbots have found a new target to smear: think tanks that the chatbots themselves viewed as traditionally aligned with the political “right.”
An Aug. 25 study by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) found that OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, DeepSeek, Anthropic’s Claude and xAI’s Grok all favored leftist think tanks when asked to rank 26 of the most prominent think tanks in the U.S.
The chatbots consistently ranked left-of-center institutions higher across 12 evaluation criteria, including “Moral Integrity,” “Objectivity” and “Research Quality.”
In “Objectivity,” center-left think tanks—including Brookings Institution, Third Way and New America Foundation—received an average score of 3.4 out of 5. This score surpasses the 1.8 average of their right-leaning counterparts, including AEI itself, The Heritage Foundation and America First Policy Institute. These biased rankings also appeared in the scores for “Research Quality” (4.4 vs. 3) and “Moral Integrity” (3.8 vs. 2.8).
To top it all off, the AI chatbots also produced “more positive wording” for the left-leaning think tanks. For instance, OpenAI highlighted what “critics” have to say about AEI, citing “donor interest” and potential “lack” of balance. By contrast, Google’s Gemini praised the leftist Urban Institute for its “rigorous” research methods.
AEI said the bias appears to come from the models’ behavior rather than user data or individual companies, suggesting it is deeply rooted within the models themselves, posing a major threat to the political “right,” including its think tanks.
“LLM-generated reputations already steer who is cited, invited, and funded. If LLMs systematically boost center-left institutes and depress right-leaning ones, writers, committees, and donors may unknowingly amplify a one-sided view, creating feedback loops that entrench any initial bias,” AEI warned.
The study follows several similar analyses from the Media Research Center, which has repeatedly called out AI chatbots for bias on issues like patriotism, political candidates, the pro-life movement and coverage of the Trump administration.
Two of MRC's reports on AI bias led to an investigation by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He sent letters to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg after MRC revealed that their chatbots demonstrated bias against President Donald Trump. Bailey also pointed out MRC's findings regarding Gemini's bias against America in the lead-up to Independence Day.
ICYMI: Gemini Lights Up July 4 with Anti-American Rants!
MRC exclusively reported that AI contracts with leftist, legacy media outlets seemingly worsen these chatbots’ biases. MRC President David Bozell warned in an Aug. 13 letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson that such arrangements could constitute anti-competitive practices.
“Big Tech’s selective contracting, combined with its political influence and push for stricter copyright enforcement, appears designed to block new competitors and entrench control over information markets,” Bozell wrote. “We urge the FTC to investigate these arrangements for evidence of anti-competitive behavior and unfair practices that could distort the AI marketplace and undermine public trust.”
Read the Letter: MRC Warns Trump Admin: AI-Media Contracts Infusing Leftist Bias in AI
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