Many Quebec voters got false election information from chatbot, MPs hear

During a recent Parliamentary committee hearing, it was revealed that many Quebec voters were receiving inaccurate election information from chatbots, according to a report by The Canadian Press. Aengus Bridgman, a McGill political scientist who led the study, found that approximately 40% of Quebec voters turned to AI chatbots for election information during the recent Quebec election.

However, most Quebec news outlets have blocked chatbots from accessing their content, which left these voters without the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Taylor Owen, an associate professor at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill, explained that in the final three weeks of the election campaign, 39% of the voting advice provided by ChatGPT was sourced from an error-filled hobby website built by AI. This error-filled information was the result of a combination of factors, including the de-indexing of these news outlets by publishers. Bridgman emphasized that while there was no malicious intent behind these events, the situation warrants urgent attention.

Conservative MP Blaine Calkins echoed Bridgman's concern, stating that the issue is terrifying and that urgent questions need to be asked about potential misuse of AI on purpose. This first meeting of a new study on AI and Canada's democratic institutions by the House of Commons procedure and House affairs committee marks the beginning of addressing these concerns.