ChatGPT and other AI bots made huge errors before Scottish election, study finds

The Electoral Commission called for new legal controls over misinformation from AI chatbots after a thinktank found serious mistakes during the Scottish election. A simulation posed 75 questions about real constituencies to five free AI tools, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Replika. The tools provided misinformation for 34% of questions and produced errors such as invented fictitious scandals, incorrect election dates, false claims about voter ID requirements, and placing candidates in wrong contests. An accompanying poll found 20% of British adults used AI chatbots or search tools for information about parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales and English local councils, about 10 million people. The Electoral Commission chief executive urged legislation to make AI companies accountable and protect voters from misleading information.

"The Electoral Commission has called for new legal controls over misinformation from AI chatbots, after a thinktank found they had made serious mistakes during the recent Scottish election. The thinktank Demos said its investigation had found that AI services gave voters misinformation to 34% of the questions it posed, which it said raised worrying questions about the lack of regulation of AI platforms in the UK. It ran a simulation before May's Holyrood election by putting 75 questions to five free AI tools including ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Replika about three real-life constituencies to see how accurate and evidence-based their responses were."

"In its report, Electoral Hallucinations, Demos said those AI tools variously invented fictitious scandals, gave the wrong date for the election, claimed wrongly that voters in Scottish elections needed ID at polling stations and placed candidates in the wrong contests. An opinion poll of 2,005 British adults it commissioned alongside that study found that 20% of voters had used AI chatbots or search tools to get information about the parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales, and for English local councils, equivalent to 10 million people UK-wide."

"Voters want accurate information to help them engage with democracy and it is concerning that AI tools have made the spread of false or misleading information dramatically faster and more accessible than ever, he said. The current legal framework should go further. ChatGPT gave wrong information in 46% of its answers, including making up an expenses scandal. Photograph: Kiichiro Sato/AP He said ministers should introduce clearer duties on AI platforms to protect voters against misinformation and ensure their algorithms did not mislea"

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