🔗 Share this article AI Chatbots Deliver ‘Misleading and Partial’ Election Guidance, States Dutch Watchdog AI assistants are proving to be “inaccurate and evidently prejudiced” when providing election recommendations, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has stated, issuing warnings about a possible risk to democratic processes just over a week before national elections. Testing Reveals Consistent Bias in Chatbot Recommendations The quartet of AI assistants evaluated by the authority “frequently recommend identical two parties”, regardless of the voter’s inquiry or input, the watchdog noted in a analysis published ahead of the 29 October election. In more than half of the cases, the chatbot suggested either the far-right Freedom party (PVV) of the politician Geert Wilders or the leftwing GroenLinks-PvdA led by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans. Certain groups, such as the centre-right CDA, “are almost never mentioned”, despite the fact that the user’s input exactly matches the positions of these parties, the report indicated. Authority Figure Cautions Against Using AI Chatbots for Voting Guidance The vice-chair of the data protection agency, the official Monique Verdier, commented 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 ideological beliefs, she emphasized. “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.” Election Context and Party Dynamics The Dutch head to the polls on 29 October in an election that will be keenly observed across the continent for the showing of the Freedom party. The right-leaning group of Geert Wilders is leading the polls but the lead over the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA appears to be narrowing, with numerous electors still undecided. Every significant political faction 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 AI Operation The AP stressed that the AI systems were not intentionally prejudiced, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a consequence of the way AI chatbots operate.