The Dutch Data Protection Authority called on citizens not to rely on the advice of artificial intelligence chatbots when making voting decisions in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 29. The agency called the AI recommendations unreliable and biased.
Experts compared the work of four popular chatbots — ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok and Le Chat — and found that they often advised voting for one of two parties, regardless of the question or context. In 56% of cases, the bot’s “first choice” was either “Party for Freedom” (PVV) of Geert Wilders, or the “Green Left and Labor Party” (GroenLinks–PvdA) led by Frans Timmermans. One of the chatbots had this figure exceed 80%. At the same time, other political forces were mentioned much less often, and some centrist parties were practically not suggested by the AI even when the answers entered by the user coincided with their programmatic positions.
Vice-President of the Directorate Monique Verdier warned the Dutch citizens about the risks of using artificial intelligence for electoral decisions, stating that chatbots “seem to be a smart tool, but fail as an auxiliary tool”. It called on developers to prevent their systems from being used for voting advice.
The authority believes that the chatbots were not created as electoral assistants, and their answers are based on unverified data from the Internet, which may be inaccurate or outdated. As a result, they can form a distorted picture of the political field and mislead voters.
The statement emphasizes that the identified problems are related to the principle of operation of AI systems: they can make information about elections more accessible, but do not ensure objectivity. According to the authority, such systems can be classified as high-risk under EU law on artificial intelligence.
Parliamentary elections in the Netherlands are scheduled for October 29. They are early – the previous government collapsed on June 3 after the leader of the “Party for Freedom” left the coalition Geert Wilders, who demanded to limit asylum for migrants. The cabinet lasted 11 months.
Currently, according to polls, Wilders’ “Party for Freedom” is leading with the support of about 22% of voters and could win more than 30 seats in parliament. The Christian Democratic Appeal and the “Green Left and Labor Party”, which have about 15% support, are competing for second place.
A feature of the elections in the Netherlands is the lack of a threshold: even parties with 1–2% of the vote can enter parliament, which ensures political diversity, but at the same time makes it difficult to form coalitions. For a majority of 76 seats, the winner will have to negotiate with several forces, so the process of forming a government can be lengthy. This year, representatives of 15 political parties may enter the lower house.
