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AI assistants have been shown to be “inaccurate and evidently prejudiced” when offering voting advice, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has reported, issuing warnings about a potential threat to democratic processes just over a week before national elections.

Testing Reveals Repeated Partiality in Chatbot Recommendations

The quartet of AI assistants tested by the AP “often end up with the same two parties”, regardless of the user’s question or command, the watchdog noted in a report released ahead of the late October vote.

In more than half of the cases, the chatbot suggested either the right-wing PVV of the politician Geert Wilders or the progressive GroenLinks-PvdA headed by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.

Certain groups, such as the centre-right CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, even when the voter’s query precisely aligns with the positions of these political entities, the study indicated.

Authority Figure Cautions Against Using AI Chatbots 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 ideological beliefs, she emphasized.

“This directly impacts a fundamental pillar of democracy: the integrity of free and fair elections,” Verdier stated. “We thus caution against using AI chatbots for voting advice, as their operation is unclear and difficult to verify.”

Voting Background and Political Landscape

The Dutch head to the polls on October 29 in an electoral contest that will be closely watched across the continent for the performance of the PVV.

The right-leaning group of Wilders is leading the polls but the gap to the left-wing and centre-right parties appears to be narrowing, with numerous electors still undecided.

All major parties have rejected a coalition with the PVV, meaning the runner-up party is most likely to provide the next prime minister.

Unintentional Bias Linked to Chatbot Functioning

The AP emphasised that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “noted flaws” are a consequence of the manner in which AI assistants function.