🔗 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 offering voting advice, the Netherlands’ data watchdog has stated, raising alarms about a possible risk to democratic processes just over a week before national elections. Study Shows Repeated Partiality in Chatbot Recommendations The four chatbots tested by the authority “often end up with the same two parties”, irrespective of the voter’s inquiry or input, the watchdog explained in a report released 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 headed by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans. Certain groups, such as the moderate CDA, “are almost never mentioned”, despite the fact that the user’s input exactly matches the stances of these political entities, the report pointed out. Official Warns Against Relying on AI Assistants for Voting Guidance The vice-chair of the data protection agency, the official Monique Verdier, stated that while AI assistants appear to be smart resources, “for election guidance, they repeatedly fall short”. Citizens were being steered toward a party that might not correspond to their political views, she emphasized. “This directly impacts a cornerstone of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” said Verdier. “We therefore warn against employing AI assistants for election recommendations, as their operation is unclear and hard to confirm.” Election Context and Party Dynamics Netherlands citizens vote on October 29 in an election that will be keenly observed around Europe for the performance of the Freedom party. The far-right party of Wilders is ahead in surveys but the gap to the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA seems to be closing, with numerous electors still undecided. Every significant political faction have rejected a coalition with the PVV, implying the party that comes second is highly probable to supply the future head of government. Unintentional Bias Attributed to Chatbot Functioning The authority emphasised that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “noted flaws” are a consequence of the manner in which AI assistants function.