AI Standing In For Absent No-Show Candidates During Political Debates

AI Standing In For Absent No-Show Candidates During Political Debates

The idea is that if a candidate opts not to attend a scheduled political debate, generative AI will be employed to represent their political position. The debate then proceeds with one or more human politicians debating the AI as though it is a surrogate of the absent or no-show candidate. Envision that an entity calls for a political debate and none of the candidates want to attend. There could be two, three, four, or any number of candidates. The entity on its own devises generative AI simulations for each of the candidates.

No need for a simpleton approach involving a mere computer screen at the podium. The robot would walk around, wave its arms, make key points via the generative AI speech capability, and otherwise appear to be acting as the candidate might. You can abundantly imagine that this would be quite engaging for the audience. The setup would consist of an AI-simulated animated video stream that leverages multi-modal generative AI and works in real-time. Once again, this might be a bridge too far when applying AI.

The Old Hat Of Skipping A Political Debate

A political backlash can slam the candidate who chooses to use generative AI to represent their opponent. If the generative AI seems out-of-sorts, the public might criticize the deviser for playing nasty political games and being underhanded. That’s the risk the person takes for being absent. Let’s acknowledge and agree on a very crucial point.

Just feed as much data into the AI about the candidate as you can find. Empty podiums don’t usually garner viewership, and the so-called debate is a bit of a dud. No worries, I’ll be covering the debate and the outcome, so be on the look for that upcoming coverage. Extensive testing of the generative AI must be performed, seeking to gauge how well the AI simulates or models the candidate. Due to the non-deterministic nature of generative AI, it is challenging to do fully exhaustive testing, even if wanting to do so, see my discussion at the link here.

AI Standing In For Absent No-Show Candidates During Political Debates

Those who disfavor the candidate will to some degree relish the use of the AI if the AI weakens the standing of the candidate. Imagine though that if the AI does a bang-up job, those same people will be mad as hornets. Here’s a seemingly small detail that is likely to raise a big issue. Should the podium exhibit a cardboard cutout or a similar static photo of the absent candidate? The upside is that doing so continually reminds the viewers of who the generative AI represents. The downside is that the cutout might seem cheesy, possibly distracting.

For video patterning, you would supply videos of the candidate. This could work engagingly for an online-only debate. However, using such a mode during a televised debate would be tedious and unlikely to hold the attention of viewers. Imagine the boring aspects of a moderator or human candidate typing prompts into generative AI. The candidate that does show up might find someone else to serve as a surrogate for the absent candidate. As you might imagine, this is highly problematic.

An opponent prepares a generative AI that represents the absent candidate. There isn’t quite the same semblance of obligation to make sure that the AI is on target to represent accurately the positions of the missing candidate. That being said, the same concerns exist as does when an opponent chooses a human surrogate without the consent of the absent candidate.

Generative AI Enters Into The Debate Arena

The video appears to be showing the absent candidate in real-time, speaking with lips moving and their head bobbing, modeled on the same mannerisms of the actual candidate. Thus, a variation is to have another person stand in for the opposing candidate. This person might be an official representative of the absent candidate. You see, if the candidate themself is not going to participate, they seldom are willing to send a surrogate. Some would say it isn’t a proper debate if the two actual parties aren’t going directly head-to-head. In today’s column, I examine an emerging trend involving the use of AI to serve as a stand-in at political debates.

• Since the opponent is crafting the generative AI to represent the absent candidate, things might get slipshod or purposefully tilted.
• For video patterning, you would supply videos of the candidate.
• This certainly seems to be a clever way to lean into the amazing fluency and conversational capabilities of modern-day generative AI.
• We all know now that generative AI can mathematically and computationally impressively mimic human writing and human speech.

You can log into just about any contemporary generative AI and begin a debate on nearly any topic that ordinarily comes to mind. Most of the time, the AI will probably do a yeoman’s job of countering whatever political stance you might take. You can guide the AI to be easy on you or tell it to be a tough debater. If you like your debates to be mean and sour, you can instruct the AI to toss the proverbial kitchen sink at you. You decide the rules and what you want the AI to do. Generative AI can be used as a stand-in at a political debate.

Generative AI Enters Into The Debate Arena

Laws about deep-fakes might come into the matter, along with the misappropriation of the modeled person’s legal rights. Here’s how an empty chair debate often takes place. A moderator will ask questions of the candidate who has shown up. This is no longer considered a “debate” in the true sense of the word. Throughout the said-to-be debate, the candidate that is present will invariably seek to remind viewers as much as possible that their opponent is absent. Sometimes the moderator might also jump onto that bandwagon and reprimand the missing candidate.

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For example, a rule of thumb in politics is that if you are ahead of an opponent then undertaking a debate with them might be an imprudent choice. The rationale for not doing so is that you are freely giving away added attention to your opponent, plus there is a risk that your standing might diminish because of the debate. The key is the extent and thoroughness of data training used to data train the generative AI. As background, when building generative AI, the AI makers first widely scan the Internet to find various data for pattern-matching purposes. This gives them the foundational building blocks of the AI being able to converse and interact based on computational patterns of human writing.

The Old Hat Of Skipping A Political Debate

A televised debate takes place with no human candidates present. It is exclusively AI-based candidates battling on the debate stage. The data training considerations apply to text-based modes and multi-modal generative AI too. Besides feeding text that depicts the absent candidate, you include audio materials such as speeches they have given, interviews they have undertaken, and so on.

The candidate that is going to be absent opts to make a generative AI that will represent them during the debate. Presumably, the generative AI will be carefully devised to make sure that it is accurate and apt. Any blowback of what the generative AI says is going to fall squarely on the shoulders of the candidate. They will have no place to hide due to their gutsy action of putting forth the generative AI on their personal behalf. To be clear, you cannot categorically say that just because a candidate opts to not agree to a debate, they are somehow right or wrong in their decision.

AI Standing In For Absent No-Show Candidates During Political Debates

It is well-known within political circles that not all debates are worthy of a candidate’s efforts. We don’t yet have across-the-board accepted standards on what the rules will be during a human versus AI stand-in debating forum. You might be vaguely aware of so-called AI hallucinations. The notion is that from time-to-time generative AI generates entirely made-up content that has no grounding in facts. I disfavor the catchphrase of AI hallucinations since it implies that AI hallucinates as humans do, a misstated anthropomorphizing of AI, see my in-depth look at the link here.

Supplemental training involves feeding numerous speeches, press releases, and other text-based content about the candidate into the generative AI. A popular method of additional data training of generative AI consists of performing RAG or retrieval-augmented generation, see my explanation at the link here. The better aim would be to use generative AI that can do speech such as the nature of speaking that we are accustomed to with Alexa and Siri. Likewise, the AI ought to be set up to listen or receive audio input. A podium could be placed on the debate stage with audio equipment connected to generative AI that would be the virtual stand-in for the absent candidate.

• The idea is that if a candidate opts not to attend a scheduled political debate, generative AI will be employed to represent their political position.
• It is exclusively AI-based candidates battling on the debate stage.
• Once again, this might be a bridge too far when applying AI.

There might be falsehoods or misleading characterizations included in those articles. All this assorted material goes into the woodchipper of the pattern matching. The generative AI could end up portraying the candidate in a quite unflattering and mischaracterized manner. There is a bit of an added twist that many don’t consider when pursuing this second route.

Currently, generative AI tends to invoke a single mode of communication, often text-based. We all know now that generative AI can mathematically and computationally impressively mimic human writing and human speech. That’s the way the ball bounces in the wacky realm of politics. The calculus entails a kind of cost-benefit and ROI political analysis.

No matter what you do to craft the AI, it is not going to truly be an authentic representation of the modeled person. Furthermore, there is a substantive chance that the representation will appear to be a mockery or parody. All in all, political players need to think mindfully about instituting generative AI in a political debate maelstrom, no matter what route is chosen. Because of a public perceived sense of strict accountability, I don’t expect many candidates to go this route. The risks tend to outplay the benefits right now. Maybe this will be viable in a few years, but it’s a frail option at this time.

Get used to AI being a stand-in at political debates since it is happening now and will become … The public is likely going to perceive the use of generative AI as a clever ploy, but the novelty is going to be overshadowed by whether the AI is suitably fair and balanced. Those who favor the absent candidate are going to cry foul.

Suppose a debate has been scheduled and one of the two candidates is all in, while the opposing candidate indicates they are not going to participate. Let’s assume for the sake of simplicity that there are just two candidates. I’ll discuss this modification toward the end of the discussion. There are lots of reasons to not participate in a particular debate. The debate forum might seem stacked against the candidate. Each situation is different and requires meritorious analysis.