America.gov chatbot
Shares rank 17 of 26 AI assistants by recommenders
People recommend it for useful answers on everyday questions and for pointing to official sources, though critics say it refuses or filters many political and technical questions.
People recommend it for useful answers on everyday questions and for pointing to official sources, though critics say it refuses or filters many political and technical questions.
24 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 14
- approval share
- 42%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful answers to everyday questions
“It works well. Pretty nice. I asked about what do I need to know before digging in my backyard and it told me all the right things”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “America.gov” “the information it gave was reasonable enough”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “America.gov” “It gave back a good answer.”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “America.gov”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Refuses or censors political questions
“The harness was censored overnight as well. Can't ask it who won the 2020 election”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “America.gov” “Today it responds with "America does not provide campaign or party information."”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “America.gov” “it says that's forbidden by its system prompt”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “America.gov” - Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “America.gov goes crazy on "play Minecraft"”
Seems no better than ChatGPT
“I'm struggling to think of how this will be better than just asking ChatGPT”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “America.gov” “it seems sort of pointless”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “America.gov”
Other AI assistants people recommend
The four most recommended other AI assistants, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | 5,175 | 5,005 | 51% | 13 | 6 mo326 owners | — |
| Google Gemini | 2,195 | 2,236 | 50% | 13 | 6 mo98 owners | — |
| ChatGPT | 2,186 | 2,885 | 43% | 13 | 1 yr164 owners | — |
| Grok | 727 | 1,249 | 37% | 13 | 1 mo19 owners | — |
| America.gov chatbotThis page | 10 | 14 | 42% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
21 of the 25 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I guess America.gov didn't get the memo...”
“The harness was censored overnight as well. Can't ask it who won the 2020 election”
“Today it responds with "America does not provide campaign or party information."”
“Surprisingly, it does not shit-talk Biden and does not conceal information about 45's impeachment cases.”
“It told me the President had no constitutional power to change tariff rates”
“You just have to work around it.”
“America.gov's chatbot provided the following, showing it does delve into politics.”
“some genuinely helpful advice on how to file complaints with the FTC”
“it refused to write code or do python”
“I am not a history recap service.”
“It gave me a list of sources that I could check to read the original laws I was interested in.”
“it seems sort of pointless”
“I'm struggling to think of how this will be better than just asking ChatGPT”
“It gave back a good answer.”
“it's likely going to be far higher quality due to using a better model”
“the information it gave was reasonable enough”
“this feels very misleading”
“It works well. Pretty nice. I asked about what do I need to know before digging in my backyard and it told me all the right things”
“It’s free to use, never includes ads”
“it says that's forbidden by its system prompt”
“is just throwing 429s too. Unusable.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.