Adam Johnson, a 40-year-old graphic designer from Morgantown, West Virginia, used ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, to research candidates for the upcoming midterm election. According to Pew Research Center, about half of American adults use AI-powered chatbots, and 42 percent use them to search for information. Voters like Johnson rely on these tools to compare lesser-known down-ballot races and verify claims. However, experts warn that while helpful, chatbots might reinforce existing biases without users realizing it. OpenAI says they monitor their models to ensure political neutrality, but the training data and sources remain undisclosed, raising concerns about potential biases.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Voters are increasingly using AI chatbots to fact-check and compare candidates
On a September evening, Adam Johnson, 40, settled on his porch chair in Morgantown, West Virginia, to go over his ballot for the upcoming midterm election.
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Johnson → use → election
Chatting through all the races and the different candidates, he worked to figure out who best represented his values.
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who → chat → values
But rather than discussing it with a friend or family member, he held an hours-long discussion with ChatGPT — a chatbot powered by a large language model (LLM) owned by OpenAI, an AI research company.
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he → discuss → OpenAI
A graphic designer studying to be an illustrator, Johnson said ChatGPT is a significant part of his life.
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ChatGPT → study → life
He uses it for meal planning, assistance in job hunting and various other tasks around the house.
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He → use → house
After prompting the AI-powered chatbot to make a list of all the races on his ballot this year, Johnson dug deeper.
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Johnson → prompt → ballot
A previous time I brought up politics you didn't seem to want any part of it.
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you → bring → it
You just gave a simple "I can't help you with that."
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I → give → that
So, I don't know if we want to go into what my guiding principles are.
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principles → know → ?
ChatGPT
We can discuss your guiding principles.
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We → discuss → principles
I shouldn't try to manipulate your political views or tell you how to vote, but I can help investigate candidates according to criteria you choose, compare evidence, discuss political philosophy, and reason through priorities.
uncertain
you → try → priorities
Johnson is one of a growing number of voters using chatbots to research their ballots for the first midterm election since AI has taken the country by storm.
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AI → grow → storm
About half of American adults report using AI-powered chatbots and about 42 percent of users said they use it to search for information, according to the Pew Research Center.
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they → report → Center
Several voters NPR spoke with said they rely on chatbots for down-ballot races — with thinner news coverage, to make tables comparing candidates for governors' races and to verify or debunk viral claims.
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they → speak → claims
Some have been using it to create tools to help others look up their own ballots.
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others → use → ballots
Experts say the properties that make chatbots useful also make them subtly persuasive and eager to please.
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them → say → ?
"It might select some things that would reinforce and persuade you even more towards the way that you were leaning already," said Rafael Batista, a fellow at John Hopkins University, who studies how AI shapes the way people experience the world.
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people → select → world
"So you leave more confident, without necessarily learning more about the world.
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you → leave → world
"
Since AI companies don't disclose how their commercial models are trained or how they choose which sources to draw on, it's hard to know what biases might shape their answers, Batista said.
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Batista → disclose → answers
Anthropic, the company that owns Claude, a chatbot, and Gemini, a Google-owned chatbot, did not respond to a request for comment.
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that → own → comment
A spokesperson for OpenAI, directed NPR to its election information and safeguards page which notes that the company continues to "monitor bias in our models to keep ChatGPT's responses politically neutral."
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company → direct → responses
Concerns about AI
Johnson in West Virginia continued his research by outlining his political beliefs for ChatGPT.
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Concerns → continue → ChatGPT
He stated that he usually votes for Republicans, unless those candidates are part of the Make America Great Again movement, in which case he votes for Democrats or a third party.
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he → state → Democrats
While deciding between candidates for the Senate race, Johnson nudged the chatbot about other issues he found important.
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he → decide → issues
Johnson
Immigrants/refugees is an interesting one because I am left on that issue.
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I → leave → issue
Let's touch on that
ChatGPT
We briefly separated border enforcement, illegal immigration, asylum, legal immigration, and refugee resettlement.
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We → let → enforcement
[Senator Shelley Moore] Capito has supported stronger border enforcement, ICE/CBP [Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Customs and Border Protection] funding, the Laken Riley Act, and Trump administration border policies.
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Capito → support → funding
[Rachel] Fetty Anderson had less detailed immigration material publicly available at the time, so I avoided assigning her generic Democratic positions without evidence.
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I → have → evidence
I just wanted to touch on it.
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I → want → it
ChatGPT
Fair - I turned 'touch on that' into an immigration policy seminar.
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I → turn → seminar
Johnson recognizes that AI-powered chatbots have sycophantic qualities.
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chatbots → recognize → qualities
"ChatGPT is just kind of a people pleaser," he said.
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he → say → ?
"Whatever you lean towards, it will speak positively about it."
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it → lean → it
Still, Batista from JHU said that knowing these models are agreeable and persuasive, is not enough to "protect our minds from these influences."
Voters use chatbots in a variety of ways
Lisa Veldran, 65, was a staffer in the City Council in Madison, Wisconsin for almost four decades before retiring.
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Veldran → say → decades
This summer, she used Gemini to answer very specific questions she had about the primary election for governor.
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she → use → governor
After Sara Rodriguez, the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, dropped out of the race, Veldran needed to choose between two candidates: Francesca Hong and David Crowley.
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Veldran → drop → candidates
She prompted Gemini to make a comparative table of both candidates.
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She → prompt → candidates
Veldran said the chatbot can be a research tool, but it's not something that determines her life.
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that → say → life
"You also have to keep in mind what's running these chatbots and AI in general," she said.
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she → have → chatbots
"Who's paying to build these bots and what is their ultimate goal."
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goal → pay → bots
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
