AI chatbots have been shown 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 democracy just over a week before the country’s general election.
Testing Reveals Consistent Bias in Chatbot Recommendations
The four chatbots tested by the AP “frequently recommend identical two parties”, regardless of the user’s question or command, the watchdog explained in a report published ahead of the 29 October election.
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 led by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.
Certain groups, such as the moderate CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, even when the voter’s query precisely aligns with the positions of these political entities, the study pointed out.
Authority Figure Cautions 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 political group that might not correspond to their ideological beliefs, she added.
“This directly impacts a cornerstone of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” Verdier stated. “We therefore warn against employing AI assistants for voting advice, as their functioning is opaque and hard to confirm.”
Voting Background and Party Dynamics
Netherlands citizens vote on October 29 in an electoral contest that will be keenly observed around Europe for the showing of the Freedom party.
The far-right party of Geert Wilders is ahead in surveys but the lead over the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA seems to be closing, with numerous electors still undecided.
All major parties have ruled out an alliance with the PVV, meaning the runner-up party is most likely to supply the future head of government.
Inadvertent Prejudice Linked to Chatbot Functioning
The authority stressed that the bots were not deliberately biased, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a result of the manner in which AI assistants function.
