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AI chatbots have been shown to be “inaccurate and evidently prejudiced” when offering voting advice, the Netherlands’ data watchdog has reported, raising alarms about a potential threat to democratic processes just over a week before the country’s general election.

Testing Reveals Consistent Bias in AI Suggestions

The quartet of AI assistants evaluated by the authority “often end up with the same two parties”, irrespective 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 AI recommended either the right-wing PVV of the politician Geert Wilders or the leftwing 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 user’s input exactly matches the stances of these political entities, the report indicated.

Official Warns Against Relying on AI Assistants for Election Advice

The vice-chair of the AP, Monique Verdier, commented 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 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 functioning is opaque 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 keenly observed across the continent for the showing 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 PVV, meaning the runner-up party is highly probable to supply the future head of government.

Inadvertent Prejudice Attributed to Chatbot Functioning

The authority stressed that the AI systems were not intentionally prejudiced, and that their “identified shortcomings” are a result of the manner in which AI assistants function.