How AI chatbots fall short when talking about voting

Researchers from the Washington nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology join this week’s Priorities Podcast to break down a recent report showing the many ways that large language models struggle to parse complex rules about voting with disabilities. Tim Harper, senior policy analyst who leads the center’s elections and democracy work, and Ariana Aboulafia, an attorney who leads its disability rights in technology policy work, review the many shortcomings of chatbots attempting to present information about voting. According to the report, “[S]ome factual errors were so severe that the entire answer was incorrect and could interfere with a voter’s ability to cast their ballot.” StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday. If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify.