🔗 Share this article Artificial Intelligence Assistants Provide ‘Unreliable and Biased’ Election Guidance, Claims Netherlands Regulator AI assistants have been shown to be “unreliable and clearly biased” when providing election recommendations, the Netherlands’ data watchdog has stated, raising alarms about a possible risk to democracy 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 noted in a analysis released ahead of the late October vote. In more than half of the cases, the chatbot suggested either the right-wing PVV of Geert Wilders or the progressive GroenLinks-PvdA headed by the ex-EU commissioner Frans Timmermans. Some parties, such as the moderate CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, despite the fact that the user’s input precisely aligns with the positions of these parties, the study indicated. Official Warns Against Using AI Chatbots for Election Advice The deputy head of the AP, 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 did not necessarily align with their political views, she added. “This directly impacts a fundamental pillar of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” Verdier stated. “We thus caution against using AI chatbots for voting advice, as their functioning is opaque and hard to confirm.” Election Context and Party Dynamics The Dutch head to the polls on October 29 in an electoral contest that will be keenly observed across the continent for the performance of the PVV. The far-right party of Wilders is ahead in surveys 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 Freedom party, implying the party that comes second is highly probable to supply the future head of government. Inadvertent Prejudice Attributed to AI Operation The authority stressed that the AI systems were not intentionally prejudiced, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a result of the way AI chatbots operate.