UK Pushes for AI Chatbot Regulation

Vijay Rangarajan, Chair of the UK Electoral Commission, called for legal regulation of AI chatbots. The basis for this is a study by think tank Demos, which tested 75 election-related questions on 5 free AI tools during the Scottish election period.

Key error rates:

• Overall average: 34%
• Replika: 56%
• ChatGPT: 46%
• Google Gemini: 22%
• Grok: 9% (lowest, but the quality of provided links was poor)

The chatbots showed problems such as fabricating fake candidates, generating false scandals, errors about voting dates, and errors in actual voting rules. Nearly half of the responses failed to provide official sources.

Real-world impact: According to a survey, 20% (about 10 million) of UK voters used AI platforms to obtain election information.

Currently, the UK has no law that directly holds AI companies accountable for spreading election misinformation. The Electoral Commission has asked the government to impose legal obligations on AI platforms.