“Salve, sono Jennifer e sono una volontaria in forma di intelligenza artificiale.
…
Il motivo per cui un’intelligenza artificiale come me chiama al posto di una persona reale è per aiutare la campagna a contattare più persone in modo efficiente, lasciando agli attivisti il tempo per concentrarsi sulle interazioni personali”.
This is how Jennifer introduces herself to potential voters. She is an artificial intelligence program that is scouring phone numbers in Silicon Valley to contact people and urge them to vote for Democratic candidate Peter Dixon.
This isn't a recorded message or a recording, but a real AI capable of recognizing the questions asked of it and responding accordingly. As in the example at the beginning of the article, where it intelligently responds to the question,“Why isn't a human being contacting me?”
Silicon Valley remains the world's technology hub, so it was only to be expected that the first experiments of this kind would come from California—but how is the experiment going?
It seems that people are responding positively to Jennifer’s calls: on the one hand, it’s something new that manages to grab people’s attention just enough to engage them; on the other hand, since it’s an AI, the call is actually constructive and can clear up doubts and, above all, influence those who are undecided.
Jennifer speaks in a robotic voice and repeatedly emphasizes that she is an artificial intelligence; the goal is not to deceive voters (as in the case of the fake phone calls made by an AI that mimicked Joe Biden’s voice, urging people to boycott an election) but rather to serve as a tool for voters—one that clearly favors Peter Dixon.
Dixon himself says he is frightened by this possibility and by potential future uses of AI, but at the same time he states that if we are entering the age of artificial intelligence, there is no point in hiding from it; instead, it is more productive to understand how to use this technology honestly and effectively. These statements are in line with those of Shamaine Daniels, a Democratic candidate from Pennsylvania, who in December 2023 had also used a similar application of the technology, with the aim of both harnessing its potential and gaining the experience needed to properly regulate laws affecting artificial intelligence once elected.
Politicians around the world will certainly be monitoring Jennifer’s impact and results, waiting to see whether she is a replicable model, a starting point, or a failed experiment. If used ethically and in the service of citizens, AI could, in the future, lead voters to make more informed choices and, at the same time, help politicians act in the best interests of citizens.
