Thousands of years ago, Aristotle looked to the stars and realized that he could measure things, like their distance from Earth. Since then, humans have used science to “measure” objects in space and come up with complex mathematical theories. However, not every object can easily be measured or counted, especially when measuring politicians in an effort to get them elected as one of our greatest leaders ever.
The AI-powered bot, which has been named “Pengpeng” (which literally means “penguin”), was developed by the Beijing-based tech company Beijing Pengpeng Technology Co., Ltd. It’s a chatbot that claims to be able to “easily and directly” persuade people to vote in elections.
The company launched its first election campaign using the bot, targeting voters in the Nanjing city council election in Jiangsu province. According to reports, there were more than 20 million views of advertisements for Pengpeng on social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat over the weekend.
In addition to its ability to persuade people through messaging apps, Pengpeng can also compile information about users based on their browsing history and preferences — allowing it to tailor its messages accordingly. It also has the ability to interact with other chatbots and artificial intelligence applications via an open API platform called Xiaoxiao, which means “little transparent.”
The company behind Pengpeng has reportedly been working on its technology since 2016 and plans to expand beyond local elections into national elections in coming years
In 2018, 1.35 million candidates ran for 2.5 million seats in local elections in China
Voters were able to vote from September 10 to September 17 using their mobile phones or computers. But how many of these voters are real?
A new campaign on WeChat claims that it uses artificial intelligence and bots to help you vote for your favorite candidate.
The campaign has spread quickly on WeChat, with thousands of users sharing the message. One user said he had already voted for his candidate through the app and recommended others do the same.
The app is called “Vote For Me” and it’s available on both Android and iOS platforms. It doesn’t require registration or any personal information other than your phone number, but it does ask you which candidate you want to vote for — there’s a list of them provided by the campaign team — and then asks you to share your phone number with friends so they can vote too.
People use WeChat, which is a popular Chinese social media platform
There are more than 600 million users on WeChat, and the app has become a popular platform for campaigning in China.
According to Reuters, one political campaign called “Double No” (a negative reference to the ruling Communist Party) is trying to use this to its advantage. The platform uses WeChat’s official accounts feature, which allows users to send messages directly to other users they’re connected with.
People who have already voted are getting text messages encouraging them not to vote again — thus double-voting — while those who haven’t voted yet are encouraged to do so. The group claims it has sent out tens of millions of these messages so far and hopes that enough people will follow through that they’ll be able to cause an upset and win some seats in local elections.
The group has also been promoting its message on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook as well as on Google and YouTube.
The US is considered a leader in political bots on social media
China’s effort is notable because it’s the first known instance of using an AI-powered messaging bot to convince people to vote.
The Chinese government has been experimenting with artificial intelligence for many years. In 2014, it launched a program called “Xue Liang” (or “Sharp Eyes”), which aims to use AI algorithms for everything from surveillance to censorship to detecting crimes and natural disasters. The Sharp Eyes program was used for monitoring the activities of citizens during the 2015 presidential election, but it was criticized for its lack of transparency and potential misuse.
There’s another government initiative that involves AI: encouraging people to vote in national elections. The campaign, uses a software called “Xiao Jie” (Little Smart) by Tencent, one of China’s largest internet companies. Little Smart can reportedly read over 100 million messages every day and analyze their contents as well as their sentiment (whether they’re positive or negative).
Political parties and politicians have been spending lots of money on online campaigns
That sometimes rely on bots on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook in order to target users based on their interests or political leanings.
A new artificial intelligence (AI) campaign in China claims to use bots to get people to vote.
The AI campaign has been launched by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department, which is responsible for spreading government propaganda across the country. The campaign aims to encourage people to vote in upcoming elections for local legislatures, according to Global Voices’ Michael Safi.
According to the Associated Press, an election official said that more than 50 million people had cast ballots— a record turnout for this type of election — despite heavy rain that caused flooding in parts of southern China.
The AI-powered campaign reportedly uses an algorithm developed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., which owns WeChat, China’s most popular messaging app with more than 1 billion users worldwide. Tencent partnered with Baidu Inc., China’s largest search engine company, which also runs an AI lab that develops technologies such as autonomous driving cars and facial recognition software.
AI technologies are becoming more accessible even for smaller organizations or companies without a lot of resources
In fact, we’re starting to see some interesting uses of AI by non-profits and other organizations in China. For example, there’s an AI campaign in China that claims to use bots to get people to vote.
The China Youth Development Foundation has launched an online campaign called “Vote for the Future Together.” The campaign uses AI technologies including chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) to encourage young people to vote in elections.
A spokesperson for the campaign told Reuters that they are aiming to encourage young people aged 18-35 to vote in the upcoming elections for local legislators and city mayors on November 11th and 12th – which will be held just before the deadline for registering as a candidate on October 31st. The spokesperson also revealed that the foundation plans on using about 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) this year on its campaigns like this one, which will be funded by donations from users who sign up for membership through its website or through WeChat or Weibo accounts.
Some of their previous campaigns have included encouraging young people to volunteer at charitable organizations or participate in activities like hiking or volunteering at community centers – all things they
The main difference between this campaign and past campaigns
-is that this one uses artificial intelligence technology to engage voters and get them to the polls.
The AI-powered chatbot is designed to interact with Chinese citizens through WeChat and Weibo, two of China’s most popular social media platforms. It uses sentiment analysis technology to engage users through natural language processing, according to its developers at Tencent Research Institute.
The bot is able to read text messages, recognize images and videos, and make decisions based on what it learns from previous interactions with voters. It can also provide real-time election news updates from various sources such as state-run news agencies and local governments.
Tencent said its AI-powered election campaign was developed in response to a lack of interest among younger voters in previous elections. The company claims that just over half of eligible voters turned out for the country’s last parliamentary election in 2016 — a much lower rate than other countries with similar voting systems like Britain (76 percent), the United States (68 percent) or Japan (70 percent).
Tencent’s chatbot has been designed with young people in mind: It offers tips on how to avoid being fooled by fake news stories online; provides step-by-step
While there is no evidence to suggest that this campaign has been successful at getting more people to vote, it does indicate that China is willing to take risks in order to increase participation. It will be interesting to see if this campaign leads to more attempts at utilizing bots for social good, and, if so, how these bots will be used. They could be an effective way of reaching out to people who would otherwise be less likely to get involved.
Artificial intelligence could change the way people see politics.
Author: AKSHR
