Brighton Pavilion voters will encounter something unprecedented this July 4on their ballots. They will witness an Artificial Intelligence candidate named “AI Steve”. This will be for the first time in the history of UK that an AI candidate will run for parliament. Probably, in the history of anywhere else!
AI Steve is the brainchild of Steve Endacott, who is a Sussex-based entrepreneur equipped with about 25 years of experience as a company director. The company will represent AI Steve in Parliament, if elected. The AI is powered by Neural Voice, which is a sophisticated system that allows constituents to interact directly with their digital candidate.
Website of the AI reveals that the aim is to provide the people of Brighton and Hove with round-the-clock access to policy-making. Voters in the region can ask questions, share opinions and propose policies through the website. The system recruits local residents into two groups. One group is the creators to draft policies and the other is validators to approve the policies. Policies getting 50% acceptance among validators will be adopted. These validators will also be controlling the parliamentary votes of AI Steve.
The potential for AI in politics is vast. Brighton resident Cathy Rankin shared her positive experience with AI Steve and said that she had spoken to the AI candidate about her bins issue and within minutes a policy was devised.
AI recommends adding trackers to bin collection lorries and optimizing routes based on demand. The charges will be high for higher usage. This is the first time a politician has listened to Cathy.
AI Steve’s campaign is currently being seen promising and these include reducing tuition fees for UK-born students by half and increasing affordable housing. The pledges resonate with many voters. The promises are highlighting the capability of an AI in addressing social issues through direct feedback from constituents.
