TY - JOUR
T1 - Trustworthiness of voting advice applications in Europe
AU - Stockinger, Elisabeth
AU - Maas, Jonne
AU - Talvitie, Christofer
AU - Dignum, Virginia
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) are interactive tools used to assist in one’s choice of a party or candidate to vote for in an upcoming election. They have the potential to increase citizens’ trust and participation in democratic structures. However, there is no established ground truth for one’s electoral choice, and VAA recommendations depend strongly on architectural and design choices. We assessed several representative European VAAs according to the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI provided by the European Commission using publicly available information. We found scores to be comparable across VAAs and low in most requirements, with differences reflecting the kind of developing institution. Across VAAs, we identify the need for improvement in (i) transparency regarding the subjectivity of recommendations, (ii) diversity of stakeholder participation, (iii) user-centric documentation of algorithm, and (iv) disclosure of the underlying values and assumptions.
AB - Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) are interactive tools used to assist in one’s choice of a party or candidate to vote for in an upcoming election. They have the potential to increase citizens’ trust and participation in democratic structures. However, there is no established ground truth for one’s electoral choice, and VAA recommendations depend strongly on architectural and design choices. We assessed several representative European VAAs according to the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI provided by the European Commission using publicly available information. We found scores to be comparable across VAAs and low in most requirements, with differences reflecting the kind of developing institution. Across VAAs, we identify the need for improvement in (i) transparency regarding the subjectivity of recommendations, (ii) diversity of stakeholder participation, (iii) user-centric documentation of algorithm, and (iv) disclosure of the underlying values and assumptions.
KW - AI ethics
KW - AI governance
KW - Design for values
KW - Responsible AI
KW - Socio-technical systems
KW - Voting advice applications
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85201274472&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10676-024-09790-6
DO - 10.1007/s10676-024-09790-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85201274472
SN - 1388-1957
VL - 26
JO - Ethics and Information Technology
JF - Ethics and Information Technology
IS - 3
M1 - 55
ER -