AI Steve was meant to herald a new dawn in “Democracy”, with voters able to access the AI Avatar 24/7 365 to discuss and help create policies. Humans in the party would then create proposed policies, which had to pass a second “common Man/Lady test” via a separate group of validators who would vote weekly on policies to ensure the party was creating “Policies for the People, by the People”.
However, at first glance, AI Steve seems to have been rejected completely by Brighton Pavilion Voters, only gaining 179 votes in the recent general election. So, what did we learn?
The system is rigged!
The UK electoral system is heavily biased in favour of the incumbent parties at the expense of new entrants because:
- First Past the Post Voting.
The UK system divides the UK into small geographical slithers and operates a first-past-the-post electoral system within each, rather than the “proportional representation” system operated in most European democracies.
For example, ReformUK, a new party led by Nigel Farage, captured 14% of the national vote but only secured 13 seats, compared to the more established Liberal Democrats, who captured 13% but secured 72 seats. This massive discrepancy raises questions about the effectiveness of the first-past-the-post system and reaffirms how hard it is to convert national awareness into specific wins in small geographic locations.
Conclusion 1.
The AI Steve campaign gained widespread national and international awareness, with 100 million TV views worldwide, 142 thousand likes on Instagram, and 500,000 hits via Twitter (X). However, generating local awareness in the small geographical area called Brighton Pavilion was much harder, and to have any chance of future selection, the SmarterUK party needs to become a national party or combine forces with an existing national party.
- National Parties versus Independents.
Do people vote for individuals or national parties when electing MPs?
The answer would seem to be “National Parties,” with only 5 independents being elected across the UK, all of whom have previously been MPs for national parties in the same constituency.
At the end of the day, the “Macro” national issues, such as the mass rejection of the Conservative Party, drove the Labour’s “landslide” victory, including the election of local MPs as young as 21.
Conclusion 2.
For most voters, the key decision is between the leaders of the main parties and their policies. It is no coincidence that the only successful new party was ReformUK, led by the highly prominent “National Figure” in the form of Nigel Farage, who generated most of the party’s impressive 14% share of national votes. It is important that a high-profile figure leads SmarterUK or it joins forces with a party that.
- Snap elections should be banned.
In the USA, elections are overly long, taking nearly two years. However, in the UK, an existing government can call an election only by giving six weeks’ notice.
Conclusion 3.
SmarterUK believes that a minimum period of 3 months is required to allow for debate and discussion of the respective party’s policies and will lobby for such a rule to be introduced to ensure democracy has a chance to be debated.
Local Awareness.
Over the final weekend in July, the SmarterUK party behind AI-Steve, completed a simple survey of 1,000 residents of Brighton Pavilion asking:
- Have you heard about the AI STEVE for MP of Brighton Pavilion campaign? Y/N
- If you have, do you feel negatively or positively about their approach to using AI to connect 24/7 365 to voters?
- What other parties have you heard of?
- Would you consider voting for AI STEVE?
Campaign Awareness 9% = Failure
The clear failure of AI-Steve in Brighton Pavilion was the failure to get AI-Steve’s concept to voters within four weeks, which was always going to be difficult. The SmarterUK party has looked at why this occurred and how it can prevent further failures in the future.
- Creation of Creator and Validator Groups.
Creating these groups will give the party direct access to voters but, more importantly, create advocates for its new form of democracy who can spread the word in their local communities by word of mouth or via their own social channels.
Conclusion 4.
Not having these groups set up and working far ahead of any election is a mistake the SmarterUK party will not make in the future, as they are vital for spreading the word locally.
- Social media
The whole ethos behind AI Steve is electronic communication with voters. However, in the time scales available, we did not manage to build effective messaging channels via Facebook, Instagram, or Facebook on a localised level.
Conclusion 5.
SmarterUK believes that it’s vital to penetrate existing localised Facebook communities and create their own branded social media channels.
- Traditional Canvasing does not work.
Partly out of desperation at the short time scales available to the campaign, SmarterUK posted 20,000 leaflets and canvased the streets of Brighton Pavilion with a group offering the ability to have live conversations with AI Steve.
This activity reinforced our initial view that voters actively dislike most politicians. Only 10-20% of people are even willing to enter a conversation, and few pay attention to leaflets dropped via their letterboxes.
Conclusion 6
In the future, SmarterUK will only rely on online or electronic channels that allow voters to engage at times and locations of their choice.
Did people like the AI-Steve Concept?
Although based on a relatively small sample size of people who had heard about the AI-Steve concept, the survey showed a 68% positive sentiment towards it, indicating that once people understood the concept, they liked its ethos.
Conclusion 7.
The concept is right; it is the awareness issue needs to be focused on.
Would voters actually vote for an AI-powered MP?
32% of the voters said they would consider voting for AI Steve, which was a higher score than they gave the Conservative and Liberal Parties and only 6% points behind that of the winning Green Party.
Conclusion 8
If SmarterUK had not pulled out of the race on Monday, July 1st, by emailing its 500 registered voters and telling its potential voters via the local press to vote for the Green Party, it clearly would have secured more votes. It did so because the election was predicted by local press to be very tight between the Greens and Labour with SmarterUK sharing 60% of its policies with the Greens and very few with Labour.
Final conclusion, never believe the Press, as the Greens won with 28,000 votes, twice that of Labour.
Summary
The campaign achieved its primary goal of creating awareness for the evolution of democracy that AI Steve represented and has built the foundation blocks for the creation of a National SmarterUK party.
So by no means a failure!
