A bilingual AI guide aims to give Latino voters reliable answers in Spanish

With less than two weeks until the Nov. 3 election, a national Latino civic group is offering voters a new way to get answers about registration, mail ballots and polling places in their own language.

The tool, called Nubi, was released on Oct. 5 by Mi Familia en Acción, which describes it in its launch announcement as a bilingual, nonpartisan “civic participation coach.” It answers questions in English and Spanish about voting, registration, citizenship and voters’ rights, and the group says it is available around the clock at AskNubi.org.

Why it matters

Latino voters are a growing share of the electorate. About 39 million Latinos are eligible to vote this year, roughly 16% of all eligible voters, according to the Pew Research Center.

Many of them may turn to AI tools with questions about how to vote, and general-purpose chatbots have struggled in Spanish. In a study published in September, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue tested six AI models with 2,400 voting questions across 10 states, half of them in Spanish. Fully accurate answers fell from 71% in English to 55% in Spanish, the Latin Times reported. One model gave the wrong date for Election Day. The companies disputed parts of the methodology, and most of the models have been updated since.

A different design

Nubi is built to avoid those problems. Instead of searching the open internet, it draws on information the organization supplies from sources it considers reliable, with human reviewers and limits on what it can answer, Axios reported. When it does not know an answer, it is designed to say so and point users to a trusted source instead of guessing.

Before answering, Nubi asks where the user lives, so that it can give state- and county-specific information. Héctor Sánchez Barba, the group’s president and CEO, told Axios the goal is to put reliable information in one place. In an interview with Univision, he said the tool can share information about candidates and their proposals but will not recommend one.

The group says Nubi is meant to supplement, not replace, its organizers, by handling routine questions so staff can focus on people who need more help. Mi Familia en Acción paid for the project itself and has not disclosed its cost, according to Axios. The group’s chief innovation officer, Denis Cook, is named as the tool’s developer.

Early tests are encouraging

No independent organization has yet published a systematic evaluation of Nubi’s accuracy. But the early checks are promising.

Telemundo asked it about mail voting in Arizona and registration in Michigan and got correct answers.

On Oct. 23, Votante Latino, a sister publication of Capitol Journal, asked Nubi five questions in Spanish and checked the answers against official information. Nubi gave correct answers on Texas’s registration deadline, Michigan’s Election Day registration and Arizona’s mail ballot deadline, with links to official sources, and an essentially correct answer on Pennsylvania’s ID rules. It did not answer a general question about the national election date, and some passages in its Spanish answers appeared in English. Votante Latino noted that five questions are no substitute for a full evaluation.

What is still unclear

• Coverage. Axios reported that Nubi works in all 50 states; Telemundo reported 10. We could not confirm which is current.
• Privacy. The announcement promises “strong privacy protections” but does not say what data the tool collects or how long it keeps it. Sánchez Barba told Univision that Nubi does not keep users’ personal information.
• Technology. The group has not said which AI model or vendors it uses.

Mi Familia en Acción is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It shares its leadership with Mi Familia Vota, a 501(c)(4) group that can take part in campaigns and reports independent expenditures to the Federal Election Commission. Nubi itself is presented as nonpartisan; the announcement does not describe how that is ensured.

Using any AI tool to vote

Whatever tool you use, confirm dates, deadlines and polling places with your state election office, which you can reach through vote.gov. Ask about your own state and county, and be wary of any answer that says you can vote by text, by phone or on any day other than Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Capitol Journal and Votante Latino are both published by Atlas Media Network, LLC.