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AI assistants have been shown to be “inaccurate and evidently prejudiced” when providing election recommendations, the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has reported, raising alarms about a potential threat to democratic processes just over a week before national elections.

Testing Reveals Repeated Partiality in Chatbot Recommendations

The four chatbots evaluated by the authority “often end up with the same two parties”, irrespective of the user’s question or command, the watchdog explained in a analysis published ahead of the 29 October election.

For over 50% of instances, the AI recommended either the right-wing PVV of the politician Geert Wilders or the progressive GroenLinks-PvdA led by the ex-EU commissioner Frans Timmermans.

Certain groups, such as the centre-right CDA, “are rarely ever cited”, despite the fact that the voter’s query exactly matches the stances of these political entities, the report pointed out.

Official Warns Against Relying on AI Assistants for Election Advice

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 ideological beliefs, she added.

“This directly impacts 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.”

Voting Background and Political Landscape

Netherlands citizens vote on 29 October in an election that will be closely watched around Europe for the performance of the PVV.

The far-right party of Geert Wilders is leading the polls but the lead over the GroenLinks-PvdA and CDA appears to be narrowing, with many voters still undecided.

All major parties have ruled out an alliance with the PVV, meaning the party that comes second is most likely to provide the next prime minister.

Inadvertent Prejudice Attributed to Chatbot Functioning

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