AI chatbots could influence elections in Victoria — ABC
Artificial intelligence could affect the election in the state of Victoria, scheduled for 28 November: chatbots are capable of changing users’ political preferences, while in competitive districts the result is sometimes decided by a few hundred votes. This is stated in an analysis by ABC News Australia.
In Australia’s most recent federal election, Tim Wilson regained the seat of Goldstein by a margin of 175 votes. The LNP retained Longman by 269 votes, while the winner in Bradfield was decided by 26 votes. At the previous election in the state of Victoria, the Labor Party retained Bass by a margin of 202 votes.
Research on the influence of chatbots
In December, Nature published a study in which voters in the United States, Canada and Poland interacted with chatbots configured to campaign for specific candidates. Such conversations changed participants’ political preferences. In some experiments, this effect was stronger than the typical influence of political video advertising.
Chatbots persuaded users with arguments, facts and evidence, but not all of the facts they presented were accurate. As the author of the analysis notes, voters have no clear way to verify which sources AI takes into account or ignores when forming a response.
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Undecided voters and rules for AI
According to a RedBridge poll, about 8% of Victoria’s voters remain undecided even after being asked to name their political preferences. A University of Canberra study this year showed that 9% of Australians use AI chatbots to get news; among people aged 18 to 24, the figure is 16%.
Independent MP Zali Steggall has introduced a bill aimed at countering misleading political advertising and the use of AI in politics. The document provides for the creation of a Political Advertising Standards Council, a mandatory code of ethics for such advertising, and watermarking of materials substantially created with the help of AI.
At the same time, these measures mostly concern content distributed among voters. The Australian Electoral Commission has begun studying in greater detail what information chatbots provide about federal election procedures, while the Victorian Electoral Commission already warns about the use of generative AI in campaign materials. According to ABC’s assessment, oversight of advice that voters independently request from AI about candidates or parties remains unclear.
Before last year’s election in the Netherlands, the local data protection regulator tested major AI chatbots as assistants for voters. Their recommendations disproportionately often came down to a small number of parties, although voter profiles covered a much broader political spectrum. This did not prove deliberate political bias, but demonstrated the systems’ ability to simplify a complex choice into a narrow set of recommendations.
