Users have already found hidden features in the White House’s new America.gov AI chatbot.
The bot, which was launched Tuesday with the goal of helping citizens navigate the government’s online bureaucracy, seems to come to life when users ask it to “play Minecraft,” the 3D sandbox video game. The bot starts to answer users with language that mimics messages Minecraft players see on their screens when they beat the game: “It thinks we are a chatbot.” And, “It is reading our thoughts as though they were words on a .gov.”
The question, now, is whether the answer is an intentional Easter egg for video game players, and if so, whether it belongs on the same interface guiding Americans through Medicare enrollment.