🔗 Share this article Artificial Intelligence Assistants Provide ‘Unreliable and Biased’ Voting Advice, States Netherlands Regulator AI assistants are proving to be “inaccurate and evidently prejudiced” when providing election recommendations, the Netherlands’ data watchdog has reported, issuing warnings about a possible risk to democratic processes just over a week before the country’s general election. Testing Reveals Repeated Partiality in Chatbot Recommendations The quartet of AI assistants tested by the authority “frequently recommend identical two parties”, irrespective of the voter’s inquiry or input, the regulator noted in a analysis published ahead of the 29 October election. For over 50% of instances, the chatbot suggested either the right-wing PVV of Geert Wilders or the leftwing 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 precisely aligns with the positions of these parties, the report pointed out. Authority Figure Cautions Against Using AI Chatbots for Election Advice The vice-chair of the data protection agency, Monique Verdier, commented that while chatbots may seem like clever tools, “as a voting aid, they consistently fail”. Citizens were being steered toward a political group 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 using AI chatbots for election recommendations, as their functioning is opaque and difficult to verify.” Election Context and Political Landscape Netherlands citizens vote on October 29 in an electoral contest that will be keenly observed across the continent for the performance of the PVV. The right-leaning group of Wilders is leading the polls but the lead over the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA appears to be narrowing, with numerous electors yet to make up their minds. All major parties have ruled out an alliance with the Freedom party, implying the party that comes second is most likely to supply the future head of government. 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.