🔗 Share this article Artificial Intelligence Assistants Deliver ‘Misleading and Partial’ Voting Advice, States Dutch Watchdog AI assistants have been shown to be “unreliable and clearly biased” when offering voting advice, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has stated, raising alarms about a potential threat to democratic processes just over a week before national elections. Testing Reveals Consistent Bias in Chatbot Recommendations The four chatbots tested by the AP “often end up with the same two parties”, irrespective of the voter’s inquiry or input, the watchdog noted 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 Geert Wilders or the leftwing GroenLinks-PvdA headed by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans. Some parties, such as the moderate CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, despite the fact that the voter’s query exactly matches the positions of these political entities, the report indicated. Official Warns Against Relying on AI Assistants for Election Advice The vice-chair of the data protection agency, Monique Verdier, commented that while AI assistants appear to be smart resources, “as a voting aid, they consistently fail”. Voters were being pushed toward a party that did not necessarily align with their political views, she added. “This immediately affects a fundamental pillar of democracy: the integrity of free and fair elections,” Verdier stated. “We thus caution 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 29 October in an electoral contest that will be closely watched around Europe for the performance of the Freedom party. The right-leaning group of Wilders is ahead in surveys but the gap to the left-wing and centre-right parties seems to be closing, with numerous electors still undecided. Every significant political faction have rejected a coalition with the PVV, meaning the party that comes second is most likely to supply the future head of government. Inadvertent Prejudice Attributed to Chatbot Functioning The AP stressed that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a result of the manner in which AI assistants function.