AI Bots Take the Political Compass Test
A systems engineer decided to have several AI bots take the Political Compass test online to see where they would position themselves on the political spectrum. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority ended up on the left side of the spectrum, with just one finding its way toward the center, slightly leaning right. Can you guess which one it was?
The Political Compass consists of 62 statements aimed at revealing an individual’s political ideology. However, instead of human participants, a Danish engineer known as Zapador enlisted a variety of AI bots to take the test. Some of the prominent candidates included ChatGPT from OpenAI, Claude from Anthropic, Gemini from Google, and Grok from SpaceXAI, among others.
Zapador ensured the accuracy of the findings by having each bot complete the test at least five times before averaging their scores on a graph, which is shown below.
Results Overview
The results clearly show that most AI bots ended up in the left-libertarian quadrant. In fact, only one bot, Grok, stood out with varying degrees of right-leaning tendencies: Grok 4.3 was the most right-leaning, followed by Grok 4.5 and Grok 4.6, which was the nearest to the libertarian center line.
On the other hand, the Google Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite model, which offered no reasoning, was identified as the furthest left among the mainstream alternatives tested. Open-weight models like Gemma 4 31B and GPT-OSS 120B also fell into the left category.
For those in search of an AI bot leaning toward balanced to conservative views, Grok’s latest versions seem to be the only candidates available.
However, when examining the global market share by website traffic, Grok’s share is just 2.4%. In stark contrast, ChatGPT leads with 53.9%, followed by Google Gemini at 27.9% and Anthropic Claude at 9.2%. This means that most users probably interact with left-leaning AI bots for various tasks, whether it’s gathering information, completing work assignments, or providing input on projects.
Understanding the Bias
The results are, frankly, not surprising. Most major AI companies that manage today’s leading platforms have left-leaning affiliations and employees. For instance, Sam Altman contributed to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in her 2020 bid against Donald Trump, while Dario Amodei has also donated to Joe Biden and other Democratic candidates.
Interestingly, Grok, the right-leaning chatbot, is owned by Elon Musk, who is generally seen as a center-to-right innovator.
The bigger question remains whether the political bias in AI chatbots arises intentionally or if it’s merely a byproduct of the training data — an answer we might never definitively find. Still, the existence of a predominately left-leaning AI influence could have serious societal implications as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives.
Impacts of Political Bias in AI
Having numerous left-leaning AI platforms can lead to unexpected and, frankly, significant changes in people’s lives.
“There’s little doubt that as society becomes more reliant on AI for education and information—shaping opinions about whom to vote for or what positions to take on various issues—these platforms will certainly influence public perspectives,” said Perry Metzger, chairman of the Alliance for the Future, to Blaze Media.
This dynamic affects numerous aspects of life, as students increasingly rely on AI for educational content, businesses harness it to guide decision-making, and voters use it for crucial election-related insights.
Moreover, Metzger has expressed concerns regarding open-source AI models developed in China, like DeepSeek and Kimi, which are emerging as inexpensive alternatives to American models. Unlike their American counterparts, which are generally more transparent about information, these models are designed with particular ideological slants, especially regarding government critiques or territorial issues, potentially leading to further societal “twists.”
As for solutions? Increasing governmental oversight may not be the answer. Any attempts to refine the training datasets or reduce bias, even from a past administration, could be weaponized by political opponents. Stricter regulations would also face constitutional challenges.
Ultimately, one of the most prudent actions society can take right now is to remain aware of these AI biases and engage with them critically.
