By In an unprecedented move, an artificial intelligence candidate named “AI Steve” is on the ballot for the United Kingdom’s general election next month. Represented by Sussex businessman Steve Endacott, AI Steve will appear alongside non-AI candidates vying to represent constituents in the Brighton Pavilion area of Brighton and Hove, a city on England’s southern coast.
Endacott, the chairman of Neural Voice, a company that creates personalized voice assistants for businesses in the form of AI avatars, believes that AI can be used to create a politician who is always available to interact with constituents and consider their views. “AI Steve is the AI co-pilot,” Endacott explained. “I’m the real politician going into Parliament, but I’m controlled by my co-pilot.”
Constituents can ask AI Steve questions or share their opinions on Endacott’s policies through its website, where a large language model will provide answers in voice and text based on a database of information about his party’s policies. If AI Steve lacks a policy on a particular issue, it will conduct internet research before engaging the voter and encouraging them to suggest a policy.
Endacott is also seeking thousands of “validators,” primarily Brighton locals with long daily commutes, whom he believes represent the common man. These validators will score Endacott’s policies weekly on a scale of 1 to 10, and if a policy receives more than 50% approval, it becomes the official party policy. Endacott pledges to base his decisions on his voters’ preferences, staying connected to them electronically on a weekly basis.
In 2022, Endacott ran unsuccessfully in a local election under the Conservative Party, receiving less than 500 votes. The unusual nature of his current candidacy has already stirred conversation on X (formerly Twitter), with news of AI Steve’s launch prompting around 1,000 calls to the AI proxy in a single night. The top issues raised by voters so far include concerns about the safety of Palestinians, trash bins, bicycle lanes, immigration, and abortion.
Endacott, who describes himself as a “centralist” most closely aligned with the Green Party, claims his primary motivation is to push the government to enact changes to cut carbon emissions. He rejects the notion that AI is replacing human politicians, insisting that the aim is to bring “more humans” into politics.
“It’s not AI taking over the world. It’s AI being used as a technical way of connecting to our constituents and reinventing democracy by saying, ‘You don’t just vote for somebody every four years; you control the vote on an ongoing basis,'” Endacott stated, acknowledging the radical nature of his approach in both the UK and the United States.
While the concept of an AI politician may seem unconventional or even unsettling to some, Endacott emphasizes that his platform is “not a joke.” He believes that AI can humanize politics by enabling representatives to respond to thousands of potential constituents daily, without the need for traditional door-to-door campaigning.
If elected, AI Steve would be the first AI legislator to hold public office, marking a significant milestone in the intersection of technology and politics.
Credit: NBC
