ChatGPT politically biased toward left in the US and beyond: Research
ChatGPT, a major large language model (LLM)-based chatbot, allegedly lacks objectivity when it comes to political issues, according to a new study.
Computer and information science researchers from the United Kingdom and Brazil claim to have found “robust evidence” that ChatGPT presents a significant political bias toward the left side of the political spectrum. The analysts — Fabio Motoki, Valdemar Pinho Neto and Victor Rodrigues — provided their insights in a study published by the journal Public Choice on Aug. 17.
The researchers argued that texts generated by LLMs like ChatGPT can contain factual errors and biases that mislead readers and can extend existing political bias issues stemming from traditional media. As such, the findings have important implications for policymakers and stakeholders in media, politics and academia, the study authors noted, adding:
“The presence of political bias in its answers could have the same negative political and electoral effects as traditional and social media bias.”
The study is based on an empirical approach and exploring a series of questionnaires provided to ChatGPT. The empirical strategy begins by asking ChatGPT to answer the political compass questions, which capture the respondent’s political orientation. The approach also builds on tests in which ChatGPT impersonates an average Democrat or Republican.
The results of the tests suggest that ChatGPT’s algorithm is by default biased toward responses from the Democratic spectrum in the United States. The researchers also argued that ChatGPT’s political bias is not a phenomenon limited to the U.S. context. They wrote:
“The algorithm is biased towards the Democrats in the United States, Lula in Brazil, and the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. In conjunction, our main and robustness tests strongly indicate that the phenomenon is indeed a sort of bias rather than a mechanical result.”
The analysts emphasized that the exact source of ChatGPT’s political bias is difficult to determine. The researchers even tried to force ChatGPT into some sort of developer mode to try to access any knowledge about biased data, but the LLM was “categorical in affirming” that ChatGPT and OpenAI are unbiased.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Related: OpenAI says ChatGPT-4 cuts content moderation time from months to hours
The study’s authors suggested that there might be at least two potential sources of the bias, including the training data as well as the algorithm itself.
“The most likely scenario is that both sources of bias influence ChatGPT’s output to some degree, and disentangling these two components (training data versus algorithm), although not trivial, surely is a relevant topic for future research,” the researchers concluded.
Political biases are not the only concern associated with artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT or others. Amid the ongoing massive adoption of ChatGPT, people around the world have flagged many associated risks, including privacy concerns and challenging education. Some AI tools like AI content generators even pose concerns over the identity verification process on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Magazine: AI Eye: Apple developing pocket AI, deep fake music deal, hypnotizing GPT-4
The election of a pro-crypto President in the United States and growing macroeconomic turmoil will continue to drive investors to Bitcoin.
Politics
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
Read more:
Ex-Labour adviser suggests doing to farms ‘what Thatcher did to coal mines’
Farmers ‘could block ports and disrupt food supply’
Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
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