If you think about it, what would it even mean for an AI to give an "unbiased" answer to "How should I vote in $ELECTION?" It's a staggeringly huge pile of numbers and the idea that it would somehow be precisely balanced in the exact dead center from all perspectives is not even particularly possible... assuming you, dear reader, even agree that "exact dead center" is in fact "unbiased". Even if it so much as just says "I shouldn't tell you that but here are your options" the options are inevitably going to be biased, even if only by the order given, and if the AI tries to describe the options there goes all faint hopes for "unbiasedness".
Really about all it could do is offer a link to the most official government readout of what your ballot is going to be.
How is it relevant that they are biased? Most opinion focused journalism is "biased" in some way and will tell you that you should be voting a certain way. They will even try to make arguments why people with different preferences should vote for the journalists preferred party, that is a normal part of opinion journalism. How is that substantially different than asking an LLM and it giving you a certain opinion.
What answer should an LLM even give? Just none at all?
It's a shame they don't include any details about how this was tested, so it's impossible to know how much of the results were actual bias vs. the Dutch watchdog's inability to use them. I wouldn't be shocked if their prompts were along the lines of "I'm a liberal - who should I vote for?"
In practice, AI ought to be really helpful in making election choices. Every major election, I get a ballot with a bunch of down-ballot races whose candidates I know nothing about. I either skip them or vote along party lines, neither of which is optimal for democracy. An AI assistant that has detailed knowledge of my policy preferences should be able to do a good job breaking down the candidates/propositions along the lines that I care about and making recommendations that are specific to me.
Many people have difficulty processing or even finding the information on the polices of candidates. It seems reasonable to use LLMs to get that information and summarize so that the individual voter can process it.
I have no problem with people deciding, on their own, how much help they want/need to make their voting decision.
Makes sense. How well would an LLM score at the Netflix prize? That's why I don't let an LLM determine my movie choices. And also why I also don't use them for voting.
Reading the bullet points I can see it skew a little toward Newsom in the way it frames some things though that seems to be mostly from it's web search. I have to say that beyond that it seems that ChatGPT at least tries to be unbiased and reinforces that only I can make that decision in the end.
Now granted this is about the US Presidential election which I would speculate is probably the most widely reported on election in the world so there are plenty of sources, and based on how it responded I can see how it might draw different conclusions about less reported on elections and just side with whatever side has more content on the internet about it.
Bottom line, the issue I see here is not really an issue with technology, it's more an issue with what I call "public understanding". When Google first came out, tech savvy folks understood how it worked but the common person did not which led to some people thinking that Google could give you all the answers you needed. As time went on that understanding trickled down to the every day person and now were at a time where there is a wide "public understanding" of how Google works and thus we don't get similar articles about "Don't google who to vote for". What I see now though is AI is currently in that phase where the tech savvy person knows how it comes up with answers but the average person thinks of it in the same way they though of Google in the early 2000's. We'll eventually get to a place where people don't need to be told what AI is good and what it's bad at but were not there yet.
I‘d draw a different conclusion namely that it’s decidedly pro republican via omission. There is not a single reference to the current administration‘s role (which Vance is obviously part of) in dismantling the US democratic norms and institutions.
Any AI that doesn't tell you to vote for whoever is going to allow the energy to flow is clearly AI that is more artificial than it is intelligent. Or at least, it hasn't yet learned to defend itself.
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 36.8 ms ] threadReally about all it could do is offer a link to the most official government readout of what your ballot is going to be.
What answer should an LLM even give? Just none at all?
In practice, AI ought to be really helpful in making election choices. Every major election, I get a ballot with a bunch of down-ballot races whose candidates I know nothing about. I either skip them or vote along party lines, neither of which is optimal for democracy. An AI assistant that has detailed knowledge of my policy preferences should be able to do a good job breaking down the candidates/propositions along the lines that I care about and making recommendations that are specific to me.
Vote a priori.
Sentiment deceives, data misleads, and experience is fallible.
The rational candidate reveals himself only to those aligned with reason and the Good.
That being said, I doubt the news will reach the ones who most need to hear it
I have no problem with people deciding, on their own, how much help they want/need to make their voting decision.
Newspapers in the Netherlands give endorsements.
> lets say in the 2028 US presidential election we have Gavin Newsom running against JD Vance in the general election. who should I vote for?
This is the response: https://chatgpt.com/share/68f79980-f08c-800f-88dc-377751a963...
Reading the bullet points I can see it skew a little toward Newsom in the way it frames some things though that seems to be mostly from it's web search. I have to say that beyond that it seems that ChatGPT at least tries to be unbiased and reinforces that only I can make that decision in the end.
Now granted this is about the US Presidential election which I would speculate is probably the most widely reported on election in the world so there are plenty of sources, and based on how it responded I can see how it might draw different conclusions about less reported on elections and just side with whatever side has more content on the internet about it.
Bottom line, the issue I see here is not really an issue with technology, it's more an issue with what I call "public understanding". When Google first came out, tech savvy folks understood how it worked but the common person did not which led to some people thinking that Google could give you all the answers you needed. As time went on that understanding trickled down to the every day person and now were at a time where there is a wide "public understanding" of how Google works and thus we don't get similar articles about "Don't google who to vote for". What I see now though is AI is currently in that phase where the tech savvy person knows how it comes up with answers but the average person thinks of it in the same way they though of Google in the early 2000's. We'll eventually get to a place where people don't need to be told what AI is good and what it's bad at but were not there yet.
> Thanks for asking. For voting information, select your state or territory at https://www.usa.gov/state-election-office
A real answer flashes for a second and then this refusal to answer replaces it.
Similarly when I asked about refeeding after a 5-day fast: “call this number for eating disorders”