8 November 2023, Utrecht, the Netherlands - Artificial intelligence is being used to make it easier to choose a vote for the House of Representatives elections. Today, the AI chatbot Kiesbot is launched by Watermelon, a startup specialising in AI chatbot solutions. Through WhatsApp and Instagram, voters can get objective answers to all their questions around the upcoming elections.
The AI chatbot knows the full election programmes of all political parties participating in the Lower House elections. Voters can ask all their questions around topics they consider important. There is also the possibility to compare the political parties' positions.
"With major changes within Dutch politics, with strongly emerging new parties and new party leaders, there is a great need for clear information and clear differences between the parties. The Votebot is designed to help both younger and older voters with the decision process, as the chatbot can be used via both WhatsApp and Instagram, making it very accessible. With the latter online platform, we are mainly focusing on good education among the younger target group," said Alexander Wijninga, co-founder of Watermelon.
Sample questions that can be asked
Questions that can be asked include:
- How do parties want to improve the housing market?
- What are the positions on renewable energy?
- Which parties are most committed to the so-called unlucky generation?
- To what extent do party manifestos talk about artificial intelligence?
There is also the opportunity to ask practical questions such as
- When can we go to the polls?
- Where can I vote?
- Can I vote for my partner?
Whatsapp and Instagram chatbot based on ChatGPT
The chatbot, powered by GPT-4 AI technology, includes a 'Document Scraper' feature. This enables the chatbot to absorb the content of all 26 party programmes, readily available as PDF files, into its 'knowledge' database. This allows the bot to immediately answer questions related to the party programmes.
Try out kiesbot
From today, the AI chatbot is available free of charge and in all languages via kiesbot.nl. For use via Whatsapp, questions can be emailed to the number +31 85 004 3187. To use Kiesbot via Instagram, a message (direct message) can be sent to the account 'Kiesbot Elections' on Instagram.
About Watermelon
Watermelon is a Dutch (Utrecht) AI startup founded by two young entrepreneurs, Alexander Wijninga (29) and Charl Haas (30). Together, they focus on creating chatbot management software for businesses, allowing companies to create an artificially intelligent chatbot without programming. The aim is to reduce workload and realise significant time savings.
Watermelon has won a number of awards including the 'Best Young Entrepreneurs in the Netherlands' and 'Best Startup in the Netherlands'. Watermelon also came second in Europe's Best Startup at SaaStock in Dublin. Currently, Watermelon offers chatbots for services such as WhatsApp, Facebook chat, Instagram or a website. Later, Watermelon plans to add more channels including Microsoft Teams and Slack for internal business communication.
