A close ally of Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro claimed on Thursday that OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot was responsible for controversial language in a social media letter where the right-wing lawmaker briefly described himself as Brazil’s rightful “president-elect.” The associate insisted that the error did not alter Bolsonaro’s underlying stance that the recent election was illegitimate.
The incident began on Wednesday when Bolsonaro stunned the country’s political establishment by issuing the claim and alleging, without providing evidence, that Sunday’s presidential runoff election had been tainted by fraud. Bolsonaro lost the race to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by a margin of more than 4 million votes.
Roughly an hour after publishing the document, the senator removed it from his social media accounts and replaced it with a revised version that substituted the term “president-elect” with “leader of Brazil.” As political observers and journalists speculated about the sudden alteration, an explanation emerged suggesting a technological mishap rather than a deliberate political strategy.
Right-wing influencer and podcast host Paulo Figueiredo, who acts as an unofficial U.S. spokesperson for the Bolsonaro family and initially distributed the letter to reporters, stated that the document underwent multiple drafts and incorporated input from several contributors. According to Figueiredo, the senator’s younger brother, former Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, utilized ChatGPT to help finalize the text.
Figueiredo explained that the artificial intelligence tool incorporated an older draft and inserted an outdated version of Brazil’s coat of arms. When generating the document, the AI ended up including an earlier version of the text in which Flavio presented himself as the true president-elect, errors that Figueiredo noted were only discovered after the text had already been distributed to the press. He added that Bolsonaro ultimately chose the term “leader” for legal and moral reasons, and that those involved found the mistake humorous, dismissing the revision as minor.
Representatives for OpenAI and Bolsonaro’s press office did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the incident.
Despite the explanation, Figueiredo maintained that the core message remained unchanged. In the end, the essential is expressed precisely by Flavio, Figueiredo wrote on social media, asserting that the senator regards the elections as illegitimate, refuses to recognize the outcome, and will continue fighting to restore democracy in Brazil.
The controversy unfolded as Bolsonaro arrived in Miami on Wednesday following his departure from Brazil. The senator left the country after refusing to comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court order requiring him to surrender his passports as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, a probe in which he has denied any wrongdoing.
Bolsonaro’s self-declaration as the nation’s rightful leader has failed to attract backing from prominent figures within his own political network, leaving him increasingly isolated. Meanwhile, Lula da Silva’s electoral victory has been officially certified by Brazil’s federal electoral court and recognized by international observers, world leaders, and even members of Bolsonaro’s own political party.
