AI assistants are proving 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 democracy just over a week before the country’s general election.
Study Shows Repeated Partiality in Chatbot Recommendations
The four chatbots tested by the authority “frequently recommend identical two parties”, irrespective of the voter’s inquiry or input, the watchdog explained in a analysis published ahead of the 29 October election.
In more than half of the cases, the AI recommended either the right-wing PVV of Geert Wilders or the leftwing GroenLinks-PvdA led by the ex-EU commissioner Frans Timmermans.
Certain groups, such as the moderate CDA, “are almost never mentioned”, even when the voter’s query precisely aligns with the positions of these parties, the study pointed out.
Official Warns Against Using AI Chatbots for Election Advice
The vice-chair of the data protection agency, the official Monique Verdier, commented that while AI assistants appear to be smart resources, “as a voting aid, they consistently fail”. Voters were being pushed toward a political group that did not necessarily align with their political views, she added.
“This immediately affects a fundamental pillar of democracy: the integrity of free and fair elections,” said Verdier. “We thus caution against employing AI assistants for voting advice, as their functioning is opaque and hard to confirm.”
Voting Background and Political Landscape
The Dutch head to the polls 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 left-wing and centre-right parties appears to be narrowing, with many voters yet to make up their minds.
All major parties have rejected a coalition with the Freedom party, implying the runner-up party is highly probable to provide the next prime minister.
Unintentional Bias Linked to Chatbot Functioning
The authority stressed that the AI systems were not intentionally prejudiced, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a consequence of the way AI chatbots operate.
