Paulo Figueiredo blamed ChatGPT for wording in Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro’s post-runoff letter, while Folha de S.Paulo said a PDF recorded use but could not establish whether the tool wrote the text.
In an Oct. 29 post on X, Figueiredo said former Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro had asked ChatGPT to add Brazil’s coat of arms. Figueiredo said the resulting file included an earlier text version describing Flávio as the “true president-elect.” Folha’s review said an earlier PDF shared by allies used that phrase, while Flávio’s first X post opened with “true president” and used “president-elect” elsewhere. The revised post called him “leader of Brazil.”
Folha found that Flávio’s X post was edited 22 minutes after it first appeared on Oct. 28. The newspaper identified an OpenAI credential in a PDF as a record of ChatGPT use. Folha said it could not determine whether the chatbot generated the wording or assembled a document from text prepared by people.
The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) reported that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the Oct. 25 runoff with 64,256,232 votes, or 51.79% of valid votes. Flávio received 59,826,041 votes, or 48.21%. His letter disputed the result and alleged fraud.
Figueiredo said the revised “leader of Brazil” wording reflected legal and moral considerations. He said multiple people contributed to the drafts and that the change did not alter Flávio’s rejection of the result.
At a press conference, Sen. Rogério Marinho, Flávio’s campaign coordinator, said neither he nor the Liberal Party (PL) had evidence to support the fraud allegation, Agência Brasil reported. Reuters reported that OpenAI and Bolsonaro’s press officers had not immediately responded to requests for comment.
