ChatGPT, the revolutionary artificial intelligence (AI) tool released last November by US firm OpenAI, has recently been making a huge splash in the world of politics. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faced a direct hit from the tool recently when he answered a question from an opposition MP without realizing the query had been created by ChatGPT. French Trade Union Boss Sophie Binet dryly assessed a recent speech by President Emmanuel Macron as one that “could have been done by ChatGPT”. This AI has been used to write speeches and helped to draft laws.
David Karpf of George Washington University in the US described AI as a cliche generator, pointing out that most of what we do in politics is also the same. The technology has found itself particularly welcome in the US, where Congresswoman Nancy Mace recently gave a five-minute speech at a Senate committee with every word automatically generated by ChatGPT. Similarly, Massachusetts local political figure Barry Finegold recounted that his team used this AI to draft a bill for the Senate.
Though beneficial in some areas, AI has some potential pitfalls that lawmakers should be aware of. Anne Meuwese of Leiden University in the Netherlands also conducted her own experiment with ChatGPT, finding that while it introduced novel ideas, there was still much uncertainty around environmental impact, bias and ethics in AI tools and limited value-add when it comes to their use.
At the same time, lower-level politics staffers can benefit from using AI for repetitive tasks such as generating donation emails. Concerns have arisen about the potential for AI tools to manipulate public opinion and be used for more nefarious means, with liberal and conservative biases being uncovered in some. Billionaire magnate Elon Musk has been quick to capitalize on this, promising to develop his own AI tool, TruthGPT, to supposedly strip away a so-called liberal bias from the generator. Meanwhile, a “Marxist AI” bot has also been created by the founder of Belgian satirical website Nordpresse which uses the same method and provides an answer as if it had been delivered by an “angry trade unionist”.
OpenAI is at the forefront of AI technology, and the company will continue to push the boundaries of the field with its innovative tool ChatGPT. While the tool has many potential uses for the world of politics, it’s important for those considering using it to proceed with caution and properly assess the risks associated with it.
