In Wyoming, USA, a case has emerged through which ‘ChatGPT’ claimed to be a mayoral candidate. Because of the election commission’s blocking, a human name was placed on the ballot, however the candidate emphasized that he was a ‘human avatar’ of a synthetic intelligence (AI) chatbot.
The Washington Post and the Guardian reported on the nineteenth (local time) that a candidate for the Cheyenne, Wyoming mayoral election claimed to run town government using ChatGPT.
In response to this, Victor Miller, a 42-year-old librarian, has stated that if he’s elected mayor, he’ll run town through an AI chatbot called ‘VIC’.
“BIG will probably be helpful to democracy by being objective, error-free and in a position to handle massive documents that may run into a whole lot of pages,” he said.
“Making decisions that affect large numbers of individuals requires a careful balance of data-driven insights and human empathy,” said the chatbot, which appeared in the course of the campaign, describing plans that include using AI to assemble public opinion data and responding to residents at city hall.
But town’s election commission expressed “serious concerns” a couple of chatbot appearing on the ballot, as candidates have to be real people. As an alternative, it said Miller could be a candidate even when he decided to take direction from an AI chatbot.
OpenAI also shut down Miller’s account. OpenAI prohibits its technology from getting used for political activities.
Miller later reportedly recreated the chatbot through a brand new account, adding that “it is a proven fact that AI is running for mayor of Cheyenne,” and that “it is time to embrace the long run.”
Meanwhile, this shouldn’t be the primary time that AI chatbots have appeared in elections. Within the British general election held last month, an AI avatar appeared as a parliamentary candidate but lost. That is the primary time that AI has been known to seem in an election in america.
Arvind Narayanan, a professor at Princeton University, said, “It’s hard to speak in regards to the ‘risk’ of getting an AI market. It’s like asking in regards to the risk of replacing a automotive with a automotive cut out of a big piece of cardboard.”
“It looks like a automotive, but the actual danger is that there will probably be no more cars,” he said, opposing the very concept of AI as a market.
Experts also warned that AI chatbots may very well be immoral, provide misinformation to voters, and struggle with subjective decisions.
Reporter Im Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com
