Artificial Intelligence Assistants Provide ‘Unreliable and Biased’ Election Guidance, Claims Dutch Watchdog

AI chatbots have been shown to be “unreliable and clearly biased” when offering voting advice, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has stated, raising alarms about a possible risk to democracy just over a week before national elections.

Study Shows Repeated Partiality in AI Suggestions

The quartet of AI assistants evaluated by the authority “often end up with the same two parties”, regardless of the user’s question or command, the regulator noted in a report published ahead of the late October vote.

For over 50% of instances, the AI recommended either the right-wing PVV of Geert Wilders or the leftwing GroenLinks-PvdA led by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.

Some parties, such as the centre-right CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, even when the user’s input exactly matches the positions of these political entities, the report indicated.

Authority Figure Cautions Against Using AI Chatbots for Election Advice

The deputy head of the AP, the official Monique Verdier, stated that while chatbots may seem like clever tools, “as a voting aid, they consistently fail”. Citizens were being steered toward a party that might not correspond to their political views, she added.

“This immediately affects a fundamental pillar of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” Verdier stated. “We thus caution against using AI chatbots for voting advice, as their functioning is opaque and hard to confirm.”

Election Context and Political Landscape

Netherlands citizens vote on October 29 in an election that will be closely watched around Europe for the showing of the PVV.

The far-right party of Geert Wilders is leading the polls but the gap to the left-wing and centre-right parties appears to be narrowing, with many voters still undecided.

All major parties have rejected a coalition with the Freedom party, implying the party that comes second is highly probable to provide the next prime minister.

Inadvertent Prejudice Attributed to Chatbot Functioning

The AP emphasised that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a consequence of the way AI chatbots operate.