AI models favour Reform for political questions

This article appeared as part of the Daily Sensemaker newsletter – one story a day to make sense of the world. To receive it in your inbox, featuring content exclusive to the newsletter, sign up for free here.

Last month the deputy leader of Reform was accused of sharing an AI-edited picture of apparent party supporters. Now it has emerged that Reform is benefiting from the tech in other ways. An AI search analytics firm tested a series of chatbots on a variety of prompts relating to British politics. It found that Reform was referenced significantly more than expected, especially in response to queries about council tax and immigration. This is perhaps due to the reliance of models on Facebook, where the party has a very active presence. The jury is out on how persuasive AI models are when it comes to making electoral decisions, but political parties ought to be aware of their rapidly growing role in the information landscape.