🔗 Share this article Artificial Intelligence Assistants Deliver ‘Misleading and Partial’ Election Guidance, States Netherlands Regulator AI chatbots are proving to be “inaccurate and evidently prejudiced” when providing election recommendations, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has stated, raising alarms about a possible risk to democratic processes just over a week before national elections. Testing Reveals Repeated Partiality in Chatbot Recommendations The four chatbots tested by the AP “frequently recommend identical two parties”, regardless of the voter’s inquiry or input, the watchdog noted in a analysis released ahead of the late October vote. In more than half of the cases, the chatbot suggested either the far-right Freedom party (PVV) of the politician Geert Wilders or the progressive GroenLinks-PvdA led by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans. Certain groups, such as the moderate CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, despite the fact that the user’s input exactly matches the positions of these political entities, the study pointed out. Official Warns Against Using AI Chatbots for Voting Guidance The vice-chair of the data protection agency, Monique Verdier, commented that while chatbots may seem like clever tools, “for election guidance, they repeatedly fall short”. Citizens were being steered toward a political group that did not necessarily align with their political views, she added. “This immediately affects a cornerstone of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” Verdier stated. “We thus caution against employing AI assistants for election recommendations, as their operation is unclear and hard to confirm.” Voting Background and Party Dynamics Netherlands citizens vote on 29 October in an election that will be keenly observed across the continent for the performance of the PVV. The far-right party of Wilders is ahead in surveys but the lead over the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA seems to be closing, with many voters yet to make up their minds. Every significant political faction have rejected a coalition with the PVV, meaning the party that comes second is most likely to provide the next prime minister. Inadvertent Prejudice Attributed to Chatbot Functioning The AP emphasised that the AI systems were not intentionally prejudiced, and that their “noted flaws” are a consequence of the way AI chatbots operate.