🔗 Share this article AI Chatbots Deliver ‘Unreliable and Biased’ Election Guidance, States Dutch Watchdog AI assistants are proving to be “unreliable and clearly biased” when providing election recommendations, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has reported, 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 four chatbots evaluated by the authority “often end up with the same two parties”, regardless of the voter’s inquiry or input, the watchdog explained in a analysis released ahead of the 29 October election. In more than half of the cases, 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. Certain groups, such as the moderate CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, despite the fact that the voter’s query precisely aligns with the positions of these political entities, the study indicated. Authority Figure Cautions Against Using AI Chatbots for Election Advice The deputy head of the data protection agency, the official Monique Verdier, stated that while chatbots may seem like clever tools, “for election guidance, they repeatedly fall short”. Voters were being pushed toward a party that might not correspond to their ideological beliefs, she emphasized. “This directly impacts a cornerstone of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” said Verdier. “We thus caution against employing AI assistants for voting advice, as their functioning is opaque and difficult to verify.” Election Context and Political Landscape The Dutch head to the polls on October 29 in an election that will be keenly observed around Europe for the performance of the PVV. The right-leaning group of Wilders is leading the polls but the lead over the left-wing and centre-right parties seems to be closing, with many voters yet to make up their minds. 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. Unintentional Bias Attributed to Chatbot Functioning The authority emphasised that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a consequence of the way AI chatbots operate.