According to Reuters, 19-year-old Fika Juliana Putri, a shopkeeper in East Jakarta, plans to vote for Indonesia’s presidential election for Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander, based on his cuddly AI persona. The cartoon version of Prabowo, produced with generative AI, has become widely popular on social media in Indonesia, appealing especially to the younger generation.
Prabowo, who is the defense minister of Indonesia, has undergone a rebranding ahead of the election, using an AI-generated avatar to present himself as cute and cuddly, rather than a fiery nationalist as in his prior presidential campaigns. This has been key to his success in the polls.
AI has played a pivotal role in Prabowo’s campaign, with his digital team using generative AI tools to create campaign art, track social media sentiment, and build interactive chatbots to target voters. Midjourney, the U.S. firm that provided the technology for Prabowo’s avatar, has issued guidelines prohibiting its use for political campaigning.
Katie Harbath, a former election policy official at Meta, stated that this election is the first to see the widespread use of AI tools at such scale. This has raised concerns about the potential impact of such technology on the electoral process, especially since there are currently no binding rules in Indonesia governing the use of AI in political campaigns.
OpenAI, the market leader in generative AI, has been at the center of the debate, with the company’s tools widely used in Indonesia’s election campaigns. The platform has recently updated its rules to prohibit the use of its technology for political campaigning, including the creation of personalized campaign materials.
Despite concerns, supporters of generative AI in Indonesia’s election argue that it has allowed smaller candidates to access tools typically reserved for larger contenders with bigger budgets. However, the continued adoption of AI in politics has raised ethical questions and highlighted the need for regulation in this area.
In terms of Prabowo’s election strategy, his use of AI technology has effectively appealed to younger voters, with the virtual avatar gaining popularity among Gen Z and millennials. The PrabowoGibran.ai generative AI platform, which is powered by OpenAI, has been instrumental in facilitating online engagement and fostering support for Prabowo among the youth.
Additionally, other candidates in the election, such as Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, have also leveraged AI-powered tools to engage voters and predict talking points. However, the release of “deepfake” videos by the Golkar party has sparked controversy, raising concerns about the potential for AI to manipulate voters through misinformation.
Overall, the use of generative AI in Indonesia’s election has brought to light the need for robust regulations to govern the ethical use of AI technology in political campaigns. The results of this election may serve as a lesson for other countries as they navigate the impact of AI on democracy.
(Reporting by Kate Lamb and Ananda Teresia in Jakarta and Fanny Potkin in Singapore; Additional reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Katerina Ang)
