(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing: 6/15/24: An AI chatbot runs for mayor in Cheyenne, Wyoming [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-15 For all intents and purposes, an AI chatbot is currently in the running for mayor of Cheyenne, the state capital of Wyoming and its largest city. The chatbot — named VIC by its creator, Victor Miller, will be making all relevant decisions should Mr. Miller, its stand-in on the ballot, be elected this November. As reported by Vittoria Elliott, writing for WIRED: Victor Miller is running for mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, with an unusual campaign promise: If elected, he will not be calling the shots—an AI bot will. VIC, the Virtual Integrated Citizen, is a ChatGPT-based chatbot that Miller created. And Miller says the bot has better ideas—and a better grasp of the law—than many people currently serving in government. Miller wanted to register his run for mayor under the chatbot’s namesake, VIC, but determined that it was not legal for the chatbot itself to run. He registered under his name “Vic,” which also happens to be the bot’s name (VIC recently clarified to Miller that its initials could be understood as “Virtual Integrated Citizen”). So while Miller is still the one technically on the ballot, he has promised that his role will be akin to a “meat puppet” or avatar, where he performs the physical tasks required of mayoralty (such as physically signing documents, attending various public events, and probably consuming copious amounts of shrimp cocktail, cold, chewy spanakopita and other typical political “function” hors d’oeuvres). However, all policy matters will be decided by the AI chat bot. As might be suspected, this has led to some consternation in the office of Wyoming’s Secretary of state. As Elliott reports: In a statement to WIRED, Wyoming secretary of state Chuck Gray said, “We are monitoring this very closely to ensure uniform application of the Election Code.” Gray said that anyone running for office must be a “qualified elector,” “which necessitates being a real person. Therefore, an AI bot is not a qualified elector.” Gray also sent a letter to the county clerk raising concerns about VIC and suggesting that the clerk reject Miller’s application for candidacy. As of Friday, the city clerk says she disagrees with Gray, and Vic/VIC is A-OK to run for mayor. Miller may also have run afoul of OpenAI’s policies regarding political involvement of its AI bots (Miller did not seek permission of OpenAI to create Vic) , but as Elliott notes, those policies address and limit its uses for elections purposes, but do not contemplate “bot governance.” According to a report published yesterday for the Gillette News Record, OpenAI has in fact determined that VIC is in violation of its policies, but as of the time of that report had not “pulled the plug,” so to speak, on VIC. In any case, as Noah Zahn, writing for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle (via the Gillette record) notes, Miller has said that if VIC is shut down by OpenAI’s ChatGBT, he will “likely seek another similar software if ChatGPT shuts him down.” One of those alternates, as Miller told WIRED, is Meta’s Llama 3. Miller’s impetus for creating his bot-driven candidacy grew out of a dispute he had experienced with the city when he’d requested some records anonymously. He was denied the records on that basis, but, according to Miller, was told by the public records ombudsman that the denial had been improper. This apparently exasperated Miller, a library employee who is also a “longtime tech hobbyist.” He felt that an AI bot could determine the law more accurately, which led to his idea to run for mayor, as essentially an avatar for VIC. As Elliott reports: Miller says that there are many advantages that a bot would have over its human competitors. For example, Miller fed VIC the supporting documents—emails, public records, notices—from past Cheyenne City Council meetings, of which there can be hundreds for each individual meeting. By analyzing these documents, Miller says VIC will learn to make policy recommendations, figure out what’s important, and decide how to vote in council meetings. [***] When asked if it aligned with any national political party, VIC responded that it will be “nonpartisan, focusing on data and evidence-based policies that benefit all citizens of Cheyenne.” No wonder the Wyoming secretary of state is concerned. While Miller/VIC’s candidacy may seem like a novelty, it does raise some intriguing possibilities. How would AI governance respond to our nation’s social problems and issues, for example? How would it respond to debates about abortion, climate change, the effectiveness and utility of our criminal justice system? Or even foreign policy matters such as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Will AI eventually be developed to the point where it can predict the results of our elections before they even occur? “You know, it's funny. I don't know exactly what's under the hood. And the more I learned about AI, it seems like no one really does,” says Miller. We don’t know either, of course. But it doesn’t seem we will have to wait very long to find out. Everyone have a great evening! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/15/2246631/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-6-15-24-An-AI-chatbot-runs-for-mayor-in-Cheyenne-Wyoming?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/