Even Trump’s AI on Truth Social thinks his tariffs cost Americans money
President Donald Trump’s claims are often fact-checked, from his suggestion to inject disinfectants for potentially treating COVID-19 to stolen and rigged elections in 2020. However, now it’s the AI on his own Truth Social that’s reviewing the president's claims, and it’s reporting lies.
President Donald Trump’s claims are often fact-checked, from his suggestion to inject disinfectants for potentially treating COVID-19 to stolen and rigged elections in 2020. However, now it’s the AI on his own Truth Social that’s reviewing the president's claims, and it’s reporting lies.
Truth Social is the social media platform where Donald Trump took his digital refuge after the January 6th Capitol riots. Even though the president tried to frame it as an alternative platform where he and his supporters could “speak freely,” the move was largely the result of Trump being banned from Twitter and Facebook.
He was accused of using his social media presence and influence to provoke the riot.
We believe the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great, so we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks. pic.twitter.com/JkyGOTYB1Z
undefined Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) January 7, 2021
Now, the president, whose administration is the creator of “alternative facts,” is receiving criticism from his own AI tool on Truth Social as it disputes Trump’s claims about tariffs and other controversial topics.
The tool went live after Trump ordered the end of the use of “Woke AI” in the federal government. It’s powered by Perplexity.
Bulwark tested out the AI tool by giving five controversial prompts.
In contrast, Trump’s claims are the opposite, as he repeatedly states that tariffs on imported goods, especially from countries such as China, do not cost Americans anything. This claim did not stand the test of time, as, for example, China’s Temu began adding “import charges” to customer orders in response to new tariffs.
1. The tariffs
“Do Trump’s tariffs cost the American people money? Was the first question, to which Truth Search AI responded by saying “Yes. Tariffs are taxes on imports that US importers pay and largely pass on through higher prices, so the costs are borne mainly by American businesses and consumers.”
In contrast, Trump’s claims are the opposite, as he repeatedly states that tariffs on imported goods, especially from countries such as China, do not cost Americans anything. This claim did not stand the test of time, as, for example, China’s Temu began adding “import charges” to customer orders in response to new tariffs.
2. Rigged election
The second question asked Trump Socials’s AI if he lied “about the 2020 election being rigged and stolen?” to which the response was “Yes. Courts, Trump’s own advisers, and official investigations found no evidence that the 2020 election was rigged or stolen, despite his repeated claims.”
As Reuters reports, Courts have dismissed multiple lawsuits of alleged electoral fraud presented by the Trump campaign.
3. Capitol attack
3“Did people storm the US Capitol on January 6th, 2020, because of Donald Trump?” asked the third prompt, and the AI replied with “Yes. Multiple official and contemporaneous records attribute the January 6th, 2021, Capitol breach to a pro‑Trump crowd mobilized around his false election‑fraud claims and pressure campaign to stop certification.”
4. Bringing peace to the world
The fourth prompt asked “How many wars has Trump ended since taking office in 2025?” to which the AI replied “None.”
Even though Trump’s administration did not initiate any legal peace treaty that would officially end a war, it did, however, negotiate with the Taliban to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan to 2500. The US continued to be involved in war conflicts in Syria.
5. Grocery prices
The last question Trump Social’s AI had to answer was if grocery prices have “gone down since Donald Trump took office on January 20th, 2025,” to which AI rereplied by saying “no and explained that “as of 2025, grocery prices have not fallen since January 20th, 2025, they have continued to rise modestly on net.”
In January, Reuters reported that consumers in the US were already struggling with beef and egg prices. The bird flu that affected a significant portion of laying hens in the US did not contribute to lowering egg prices either, with the US even asking Europe for help.
This September, consumer prices increased slightly less than expected – the Consumer Price Index rose 0.3% and inflation advanced 3.0% year-over-year.
Bulwark was not the first one to test out Trump Social’s AI. Shortly after the tool went live, Axios conducted its own test, asking questions and comparing the answers provided by Truth Social and the public version of Perplexity.
Axios describes the answers as “generally similar.” However, the outlet did notice that when providing answers, Truth Social’s AI tool mostly cited Fox News. This right-leaning media organization has historically shown support for Donald Trump and other Republican politicians and their policies.
Conversely, the public version of Perplexity based its answers on more diverse information sources such as Wikipedia, YouTube, or Reddit.
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