British political candidate uses artificial intelligence to draw up election manifesto

By KELVIN CHAN
AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — An independent candidate for a U.K. Parliament has turned to artificial intelligence to come up with his campaign promises. Andrew Gray, who says he has no policies of his own, crowdsourced constituents’ sentiments and used machine learning to come up with his political manifesto. He calls the technology a faster and fairer way for politicians to widely reflect views of the people they represent. He’s running in parliamentary by-election Thursday in northern England. It’s expected to be a hotly contested battle between three political parties, and Gray is realistic about his chances. He uses AI to canvas residents on local issues through his website. An expert says “democracy isn’t going to be fixed by a new technology.”