The upcoming elections in the United Kingdom, though mostly about Conservative leader and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer, has a unique candidate named ‘AI Steve’.
This is the digital avatar of independent candidate Steve Endacott, aged 59, and on July 4, as the UK goes to polls, voters will see ‘AI Steve’ on their ballot.
Endacott is making himself available for interviews and such like, but it is ‘AI Steve’ who is canvassing in the run-up to the general elections.
Generated by Artificial Intelligence, the digital Steve is an election nominee for the Brighton Pavilion parliamentary constituency; the previous incumbent was the Green party’s Caroline Lucas.
As the AI avatar of the real Endacott, the digital Steve aims to build human connections round-the-clock. “AI Steve was created to ensure that the people of Brighton and Hove had 24/7 access to leave opinions and create policies,” Endacott posted on the AI Steve website.
He is a successful businessman who made his money from the travel sector but is also closely involved in Artificial Intelligence, as the chairman of Neural Voice, an AI enterprise.
‘Smarter UK’ is the political party launched by Endacott, but because of pre-poll registration issues, he is contesting as an independent candidate. The name of the new party suggests that neither of the two largest political organisations in the UK is considered smart enough by the AI Steve team.
Community interactions with AI Steve will help Endacott gather public opinion and suggestions, and he plans to vote in the UK Parliament — if elected — on the basis of this feedback.
The “real Endacott” has been at pains to emphasise upon his “working-class background”, which is one of the decisive factors in UK elections. He has a supermarket employee mother and a dock worker father.
“He understands the value of money and greatly appreciates that the success of his business exploits has left him relatively wealthy and able to enter politics without needing the financial rewards some others seek,” said the website.
The MP hopeful is “deeply concerned about global warming but hesitates to join the Green Party as he is focused on implementing practical and affordable Green policies”. One of the things he plans to do, if he makes it to the UK Parliament, is to increase the number of charging stations in Brighton to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles.