Selecting Better Leaders: Using AI Technology At The Polling Booths and Beyond

Written by Manish-sharma | Published 2021/05/19
Tech Story Tags: artificial-intelligence | election | ai-technology | voter-turnout | voting | ai | ai-applications | future-of-ai

TLDR AI technologies work on numerous tools that help us make smart decisions for complex subjects. From flight tickets, life insurance plans to personalized suggestions like books to read, artists to listen to, and movies to watch, AI helps us make the suitable decision quickly. But people forget we are living in an AI-driven world. We need technologies that enable virtual voting. We need multi-step verifications, voter ID scanners, reliable government portals for a free and fair electoral process. But If we integrate the above-mentioned advanced AI solutions into the elections, we can witness optimal changes in the future.via the TL;DR App

Imagine you are at the polling booth; dozens of political parties' banners are printed across it. Most of them you've never seen before. However, you know that the button you press determines the government for the coming years. 

How are you going to choose? 

Before we discuss how - let's begin by figuring out the why.

Why do people face this challenge?

Privileged people think it is okay to be apolitical. The reason people are apolitical is it requires rational investment to make an informed choice on the polling booth- reading the local newspapers, comparing the merits of candidates, watching the candidates' speeches. But, unfortunately, most people find all this boring or not worth their time.
But people forget we are living in an AI-driven world. AI technologies work on numerous tools that help us make smart decisions for complex subjects. From flight tickets, life insurance, and mobile plans to personalized suggestions like books to read, artists to listen to, and movies to watch, AI helps us make the suitable decision quickly. 
So, could AI help us select the right political leader? Let's find out.

FiscalNote

FiscalNote's complete software solutions connect the world to government policies. They promote themselves as a "non-partial, authentic source platform." Their core motive is to provide policy insights to organizations for optimal decision-making.
How this can be useful for elections:
Voters can use this AI service to educate themselves about the policies that will impact their lives and families. Also, the AI sends significant alerts, informing users about the policies of political parties prior to the elections, which help voters make a better choice on the election day.

iSideWith

It's another AI technology company that lets people compare political parties, candidates through engaging quizzes, discussions, and much more. 
How this can be useful for elections: 
Due to the overwhelming information available on the web, it has become quite difficult for voters to identify the trusted sources. In that case, the platforms conduct political surveys daily to help find credible sources and keep the users informed about the ongoing political issues. 

Expert.ai

Expert.ai leverages the AI technique known as "sentiment analysis" to recognize human behavior on social media platforms. For example, this AI program helps political parties to know where they need to concentrate more to increase their chance of winning.
How this can be useful for elections:
Specifically, this AI can help predict voter turnout. Therefore, the election officials will prepare and conduct the polls more securely, accurately.

Advanced Symbolics Inc.

The company's AI technology is named Polly, which assesses people's online behavior, policy trends, politicians' popularity, and other significant information that impact businesses' success. However, one could easily witness how this AI evaluates social media campaigns to forecast real-world actions.
How this can be useful for elections:
It will help see what motivates people to vote to develop campaigns to increase the number of voters.

Final Thoughts

In unprecedented times like 2021, when everything in the country is at a standstill, why are we conducting elections, standing in long queues for hours to cast our vote? We need technologies that enable virtual voting. We need multi-step verifications, voter ID scanners, reliable government portals for a free and fair electoral process.
Although, it is a long road ahead. But If we integrate the above-mentioned advanced AI solutions into the elections, we can witness optimal changes in the future.
As a society, the more of us become politically aware of the issues, the more beneficial the result of elections will be. 

Written by Manish-sharma | I help enterprises and start-ups solve content challenges.
Published by HackerNoon on 2021/05/19