ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Politics
POLL PROMPTING
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has reportedly asked staff to “look into” whether the latest political poll showing National slumping to 28.4% was actually written by ChatGPT, after noticing what he described as “suspiciously creative negativity.”
The latest Taxpayers’ Union–Curia poll placed Labour at 34.4%, a six-point lead over National, a result Luxon said contained “all the hallmarks of AI interference.”
“Look, I’m not saying it was written by ChatGPT,” Luxon told reporters while sounding like he was generated from a prompt himself. “But when you see numbers like that you do have to wonder whether someone typed in a prompt like ‘Write a poll result where National collapses and Labour surges dramatically.’”
Luxon confirmed he had asked staff to investigate whether the polling firm had accidentally pasted the ChatGPT’s output field into the results.
“What I will say is that I’d just like to see the original instructions,” he said. “Something like ‘Pretend National is polling badly and make it sound believable.’ That would explain quite a lot. The shareholders of New Zealand would never vote National down like that.
The Prime Minister added that if artificial intelligence was involved, the Government would consider regulating it.
Deputy Prime Minister Nicola Willis conceded the numbers were “not ideal,” though she stopped short of blaming artificial intelligence.
“It is not a good number,” Willis said on Newstalk ZB earlier today. “If that was the number National got in an election it would not be acceptable. But we’re confident voters will eventually correct the poll once they realise it may have been written by a chatbot.”
Meanwhile, staff inside the Beehive confirmed Luxon has begun experimenting with ChatGPT himself, asking it several questions including “How to fix poll numbers quickly,” and “Rewrite poll so National wins.”
At the time of publication, the chatbot had reportedly replied: “I’m sorry, but I cannot fabricate election results.
More to come.
