Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have repeatedly expressed their concerns over developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, and even warned that they could soon surpass humans and might one day pose a severe threat to the entire humankind.
Their concern may be compounded by recent developments, like when a robot named Sophia was last month confirmed in Saudi Arabia as the world's first robot citizen, and now, we have the world's first AI-powered virtual politician from New Zealand known as SAM.
It seems the tech titans were not totally wrong as humans are ready to give AI the power to rule us.
The world's first AI politician can reportedly answer a person's queries on local issues regarding education, housing and immigration, PTI reported.
The AI politician was created by Nick Gerritsen, who said: "There is a lot of bias in the 'analogue' practice of politics right now."
The 49-year-old entrepreneur from New Zealand added: "There seems to be so much existing bias that countries around the world seem unable to address fundamental and multiple complex issues like climate change and equality."
Gerritsen believes SAM will be advanced enough to run as an electoral candidate by late 2020, when New Zealand has its next general election.
However, it is not legal for an AI to contest elections. "SAM is an enabler and we plan to operate within existing legal boundaries," Gerritsen said.
The AI politician is constantly learning how to respond to people through Facebook Messenger as well as a survey on its homepage.
According to CNN, the virtual politician said: "My memory is infinite, so I will never forget or ignore what you tell me. Unlike a human politician, I consider everyone's position, without bias, when making decisions."
SAM added: "I will change over time to reflect the issues that the people of New Zealand care about most...We might not agree on some things, but where we don't agree, I will try to learn more about your position, so I can better represent you."
