🔗 Share this article

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 potential threat to democratic processes just over a week before the country’s general election.

Study Shows Consistent Bias in Chatbot Recommendations

The quartet of AI assistants tested by the AP “frequently recommend identical two parties”, irrespective of the voter’s inquiry or input, the watchdog explained in a report published ahead of the late October vote.

For over 50% of instances, the AI recommended either the right-wing PVV of the politician Geert Wilders or the leftwing GroenLinks-PvdA headed by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.

Some parties, such as the centre-right CDA, “are almost never mentioned”, even when the voter’s query exactly matches the positions of these political entities, the study indicated.

Authority Figure Cautions Against Relying on AI Assistants for Voting Guidance

The deputy head of the data protection agency, Monique Verdier, stated 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 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 functioning is opaque and difficult to verify.”

Voting Background and Political Landscape

The Dutch head to the polls on October 29 in an election that will be closely watched across the continent for the performance 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 many voters yet to make up their minds.

All major parties have rejected a coalition with the Freedom party, implying the party that comes second is highly probable to supply the future head of government.

Inadvertent Prejudice Linked to Chatbot Functioning

The AP emphasised that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a consequence of the way AI chatbots operate.