Artificial Intelligence Assistants Provide ‘Misleading and Partial’ Voting Advice, Claims Dutch Watchdog

AI assistants 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 possible risk to democratic processes just over a week before the country’s general election.

Testing Reveals Consistent Bias in AI Suggestions

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 explained in a analysis published 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 leftwing GroenLinks-PvdA led by the former European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.

Some parties, such as the centre-right CDA, “are almost never mentioned”, even when the voter’s query precisely aligns with the stances of these political entities, the report pointed out.

Authority Figure Cautions Against Relying on AI Assistants for Voting Guidance

The deputy head of the data protection agency, the official Monique Verdier, stated that while chatbots may seem like clever tools, “as a voting aid, they consistently fail”. Voters were being pushed toward a party that might not correspond to their political views, she emphasized.

“This directly impacts a cornerstone of democracy: the honesty of open and just votes,” Verdier stated. “We therefore warn against using AI chatbots for election recommendations, as their operation is unclear and hard to confirm.”

Voting Background and Party Dynamics

The Dutch head to the polls on 29 October in an election that will be keenly observed around Europe for the performance of the PVV.

The right-leaning group of Geert Wilders is ahead in surveys but the gap to the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA appears to be narrowing, with many voters yet to make up their minds.

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 “noted flaws” are a result of the way AI chatbots operate.