Since standing as the first AI-powered candidate in an election in July 2023, I have spoken to dozens of fascinating people all around the world who want to upgrade their democracies and quell political polarisation. My high-ish profile in this space earned me an invite to a private dinner in Silicon Valley, where I freely ventilated my experiences and hopes for the future. Given my recent epiphany – outlined below – what I asked for from the tech titans was intellectually flawed.
Of the many of the political tech people I have met, they all want to build something like the Polis technology which I have been using (which was created by the altruistic geniuses at the non-profit Computational Democracy Project). Essentially, Polis finds consensus within infinite numbers of people in their own words. Truly, Polis is an amazing piece of kit, but it can and will be improved.
In order to understand this modern world from a political perspective, irrespective of whether you live in a democracy (and the type thereof) or not, we must interrogate and then list (or add to a diagram) all the ways that we as individuals can use political power if we choose to. No doubt I have missed many from the list. The first few are obvious – in fact they are all obvious – but I suspect that most people, myself included, have never listed all the ways that we have power at our disposal today.
Voting
- General Elections: Individuals, usually over the age of 18, have the power to vote for their preferred candidates or parties in national elections.
- Becoming a candidate: Not for the faint-hearted!
- Local Elections: Voting for local council members allows individuals to influence decisions that directly affect their community, from local services to infrastructure projects.
- Mayoral Elections: In cities and regions with elected mayors, individuals can vote to decide who will lead and represent their interests.
- Referenda: Individuals can vote on specific issues or policies through referendums or ballot initiatives, directly shaping the laws and regulations, most common in Switzerland
Participation
Active participation in political processes extends beyond voting. Individuals can engage in numerous activities that contribute to democratic engagement:
- Political Party Membership: Joining a political party and contributing financially can support the party’s activities and influence its policies.
- Campaign Activities: Volunteering to deliver leaflets, putting up posters, or participate in canvassing efforts helps spread the party’s message and mobilise voters.
- Public Discourse: Engaging in conversations with others about political issues can help raise awareness and shape public opinion.
- Advocacy and Communication: Writing letters to parties, candidates, elected officials, and civil servants can express support or concern for specific issues and influence decision-making.
- Information Sharing: Subscribing to newsletters and signing up for updates keeps individuals informed about political developments and opportunities for involvement.
- Petitions: Signing and promoting physical and online petitions can bring attention to important issues and demonstrate public support.
- Joining Campaign Groups: Becoming part of advocacy groups or movements that align with personal values can amplify individual voices, and attending demonstrations and marches.
- Financial Contributions: Donating to campaigns, parties, or causes can provide the necessary resources to support their activities.
- Social Media Engagement: Interacting with political content on social media platforms by liking, sharing, commenting, and retweeting helps spread information and mobilise others.
- Local Government Participation: Commenting on planning permissions, reporting issues like potholes, and engaging in local consultations can directly impact community decisions.
- Trade Union Membership: Joining trade unions can provide collective bargaining power and influence workplace policies.
Work
Our professional choices also have political implications:
- Employment Decisions: Choosing where to work and the nature of one’s job can align with personal values and contribute to larger societal goals.
- Workplace Conduct: How we perform our duties and the ethical standards we uphold can reflect and promote broader political and social values.
Internationally
Individuals can exert influence on a global scale through various actions:
- Advocacy for Human Rights: Writing to foreign governments or international bodies when they violate human rights, as organisations like Amnesty International do (of which I am a member).
- Supporting Global Causes: Choosing to support or ignore international charities and non-profits that work on global issues like poverty, climate change, and human rights.
Purchasing Power
Every purchasing decision carries political weight:
- Consumer Choices: Deciding what to buy, how much, and from whom can support ethical or unethical businesses.
- Investment Decisions: The choices we make regarding investments, such as pension funds, influence the companies and sectors that receive financial support. Ensuring that pension trustees make responsible investment decisions can drive corporate behaviour towards sustainability and social responsibility, or we can invest in armaments and tobacco.
Generally
Daily interactions often reflect and reinforce our political beliefs:
- Interpersonal Interactions: How we interact with others, whether in personal or professional settings, usually aligns with our worldview and can influence those around us.
Like it or not, most of what we do has a political angle.
Your Power Today
Essentially, we all enjoy vast power across almost unlimited domains, with some people having more than others.
And with circa 100m videos uploaded to social media each day, if, say, 20% have a political angle, it would take several lifetimes for someone just to engage with the output of one day’s political videos.
This scale of our political power is unfathomable.
My contention and epiphany is that we are living in a time when humans have the greatest amount of political power in history, yet most of us are oblivious to it. This power is so vast that it is beyond our comprehension.
AI
AI changes everything.
We can now multiply our political power thousands of times over, engaging in all of the domains listed above, relentlessly and in an unlimited way and for almost no cost.
The speed of AI advancement is so dramatic that the power you had at the start of reading this piece has increased by the time that you read these very words.
As things stand, on 25 May 2024, I could ask an AI bot to review all the emails in my inbox and ask it to tell me about my political positions. If I let an AI bot track all my social media interactions, the analysis will be more accurate.
By way of example of what is possible already, using Chat GPT’s latest update, I gave it this prompt:
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My Question:
“I want you to read what I have written on my personal website, particlarly all the blogs, and describe in 100 words my political views and who i should vote for in the uk election on 4 july 24: https://www.andrew-gray.org/.”
Chat GPT Response:
“Based on your blog posts and political instincts, your political views focus on supporting families, overhauling the NHS, addressing biodiversity loss, and enhancing localism. You advocate for community consensus, freedom of speech, and the importance of small and medium-sized businesses over large corporations. You also emphasize the need for local solutions to local problems and a fairer tax system.
Given your emphasis on localism, environmental issues, and fair economic policies, you might align with the Green Party or the Liberal Democrats in the upcoming UK election. Both parties focus on community-driven policies, environmental sustainability, and economic fairness.
For more detailed insights, you can review your own political instincts and blog posts.”
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Dear blog reader, you decide whether this answer summarises my political views accurately.
The Near Future
Given the pace of change, I foresee that within one year there will be a tech tool which will allow us to fully understand our own political views and then to act upon them with little instruction from us. This political avatar will be able to multiple our political power by tens of thousands of times.
An example is needed.
Imagine that your main political issue – the one that gnaws away at you – is animal testing, and you want to ban it. Soon, you will be able to instruct your AI avatar to work 24/7 on your behalf to acheive a ban on animal testing. You could even give your avatar a budget of, say, £100 to spend to achieve your political aims.
This avatar may decide to contact every MP in the world, through every means of communication with that MP, in the most compelling way, written in their own language, honing in on the politician’s predilictions and weaknesses. Such an avatar may then sign your name to every petition in the world on the subject and perhaps then create more petitions and then distribute them. At the same time your avatar may contact every animal testing company in the world to ask them to stop, using the medium of AI-created videos of distraught animals. Then, your avatar may contact every company in the world which has even the most tangential involvement in animal testing, harassing them on social media until they relent.
And, I suppose, a nefariously-trained avatar may break laws to electronically attack any organisation connected with animal testing ecosystem. This could all happen on the same day, whilst sharing, liking, retweeting etc tens of millions of posts per day.
One person using AI to multiply themselves politically could topple governments.
And I foresee a time when our AI political avatars will interact with each other, hopefully finding consensuses wherever possible. (But consensus should not and cannot always be found, nor is consensus right for some issues: think 1930s Europe.)
Final Thoughts
Nietzsche – my go-to thinker – claims that all humans are driven by a “will to power”. This advent of AI could be the true democratising, revolutionary event of history, allowing us to expand our power in a Nietzschean way. Fasten your seatbelts, I say.
And for those who use AI in the political arena first, they will enjoy vastly more power than those who don’t. That will be grossly unfair. A twelve-year old living at home, with some tech proficiency, will enjoy more power than a multimillionaire who only votes every few years.
And how could the elites exact control in such a world? Perhaps, those who dominate our entertainment will drive political opinions across the globe (perhaps Trump proves the point already). So, if you want more power in a world where we all use AI bots to multiply ourselves, become an influencer.
