AI Chatbots Spread Misinformation Ahead of 2026 Scottish Election, Prompting Calls for Regulation

Demos tested 75 constituency questions on five free AI tools. 34 % of the 250 answers were factually wrong, with error rates of Replika 56 %, ChatGPT 46 %, Gemini 22 % and Grok 9 %.

The Guardian

AI chatbots now serve as information sources. Demos’ Epistemic Security programme reports 20 % of UK adults—about 10 million—used a chatbot for election queries before May 7, while 49 % distrust them and 47 % fear inaccuracy.

Electoral Hallucinations: Safeguarding UK elections in the world of LLMs and AI chatbots

Key actors are Demos (associate director Azzurra Moores), the Electoral Commission (chief exec Vijay Rangarajan), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (spokesperson), and AI firms OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google (Gemini), X (Grok) and Replika.

The Guardian

Chatbot error was 34 %; Replika 56 %, ChatGPT 46 %, Gemini 22 %, Grok 9 %. 49 % of adults distrust election info, 47 % worry about inaccuracies; 44 % of ChatGPT citations are over a year old and half of responses lack official sources.

The Guardian

Electoral Commission chief executive Vijay Rangarajan called for legislation to make AI platforms accountable, grant Ofcom powers and curb mis-lead. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology called defending elections “an absolute priority” and noted cross-government work.

The Guardian

Demos warned that without legal safeguards voters are exposed to AI-generated falsehoods, urging liability under defamation and electoral law and mandatory accuracy checks. OpenAI countered that Demos used an outdated model and that users can request web-search for up-to-date answers.

The Guardian

OpenAI has not commented, and Google has not responded; Google’s AI Overviews answered only 11 % of prompts and was omitted. The report flagged broken links, outdated citations and missing official source references, leaving verification gaps.

The Guardian

The Electoral Commission urges ministers to amend the Representation of the People Bill and extend the Online Safety Act to require AI chatbots to filter misleading election content. The defending-democracy taskforce will continue testing outputs and draft mandatory accuracy standards.

The Guardian

• “Voters want accurate information to help them engage with democracy and it is concerning that AI tools have made the spread of false or misleading information dramatically faster and more accessible than ever,” — Vijay Rangarajan, Electoral Commission chief executive

The Guardian

• “This is a UK-wide, if not global, concern. The accessibility of these AI-tools – which are all developed and run by US corporations – is widespread in the UK, but we don’t yet have the legislative framework to protect the public from misinformation, or our democracy from the knock-on impact of its circulation.” — Azzurra Moores, Associate Director, Demos

The Guardian

• “AI is critical to the UK’s future prosperity and security. But if we want people to seize the benefits this technology promises, they need to be able to trust it.” — Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson

The Guardian

• “Replika is presented as a companion for reflection and self-expression, not as a source of factual or real-world information,” — Replika spokesperson

The Guardian