AI chatbots could tip Australia's tightest electoral races, experts warn

Experiments in the United States, Canada and Poland demonstrated that AI chatbots programmed to support particular candidates can alter voter choices, sometimes surpassing the impact of conventional political advertising. In Australia, seats such as Goldstein, Longman and Bradfield were won by margins of 175, 269 and 26 votes, illustrating how a few hundred persuaded voters could flip outcomes. Surveys indicate 9 % of Australians—and 16 % of those aged 18 to 24—use AI chatbots for news, making the upcoming Victorian election a real-world test of this trend.

Independent MP Zali Steggall has introduced a bill requiring watermarks on AI-created political material and an enforceable ethical code, but the challenge of voters initiating private AI conversations persists. The Australian Electoral Commission has begun probing AI’s role in informing voters, while the Victorian Electoral Commission warns about generative AI in campaign assets. Experts caution that without transparency, AI may deliver confident yet inaccurate advice, jeopardising informed voting.