AI chatbots have been shown to be “unreliable and clearly biased” when providing election recommendations, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has stated, raising alarms about a potential threat to democratic processes just over a week before the country’s general election.
Study Shows Consistent Bias in AI Suggestions
The four chatbots tested by the authority “often end up with the same two parties”, regardless of the user’s question or command, the watchdog noted in a report released ahead of the 29 October election.
In more than half of the cases, the chatbot suggested either the right-wing PVV of the politician Geert Wilders or the progressive GroenLinks-PvdA headed by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.
Certain groups, such as the moderate CDA, “are almost never mentioned”, even when the voter’s query exactly matches the positions of these parties, the report pointed out.
Authority Figure Cautions Against Using AI Chatbots for Voting Guidance
The deputy head of the AP, Monique Verdier, stated that while chatbots may seem like clever tools, “as a voting aid, they consistently fail”. Voters were being pushed toward a party that might not correspond to their ideological beliefs, she emphasized.
“This directly impacts a cornerstone of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” Verdier stated. “We thus caution against employing AI assistants for voting advice, as their functioning is opaque and hard to confirm.”
Voting Background and Party Dynamics
The Dutch head to the polls on October 29 in an electoral contest that will be keenly observed around Europe for the showing of the PVV.
The right-leaning group of Wilders is leading the polls but the gap to the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA seems to be closing, with many voters still undecided.
Every significant political faction have rejected a coalition with the Freedom party, meaning the runner-up party is most likely to provide the next prime minister.
Inadvertent Prejudice Attributed to AI Operation
The AP emphasised that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a result of the way AI chatbots operate.
