Wellington group launches AI politician to rebuild public trust

A Wellington-based technology group has announced the launch of Parker, an artificial intelligence-powered politician aimed at addressing the erosion of trust in traditional politicians and the spread of disinformation.

The AI is designed to deliver fact-based, impartial political decisions.

"It all began by asking whether an AI politician could provide facts rather than push a party line," explains Nick Gerritsen, spokesperson for the group. "Parker is proving that it can deliver comprehensive, contextually adaptive policies for complex challenges like climate change."

Parker utilises diverse data sources and prioritises peer-reviewed literature to formulate its policies. The goal is to provide solutions that serve the common good. "In this way, we help people navigate complex problems and arrive at solutions that benefit many, rather than serving the interests of a powerful few," Gerritsen adds.

The technology aims to address various scales of issues, from local to global. "Our current political system is an inheritance from a time when it was expensive and difficult to bring people together for democratic decision-making," says Gerritsen. "It is not adapting well to the increasingly complex information landscape and new media environment. People are losing trust and turning to social media and their peers for information and sense-making."

Gerritsen continues, "People deserve better information, decision-making processes and outcomes. AI, while not perfect, is vastly more reliable and informed than the average politician. We are continually improving Parker to be more responsive, culturally sensitive, adaptive, and bias-aware. You can't tune a real politician like this!"

Parker is an evolution of a previous pilot programme, "SAM the Virtual Politician," launched in 2017. The initiative, part of the Wellington CITY.AI chapter, garnered significant international attention and was featured in over 85 news articles globally.

Nick Gerritsen, who is involved in several technology projects, underscores the limitations of human politicians in tackling the current 'polycrisis'—including issues like water, climate, biodiversity, security, and disinformation. "We need better outcomes, and our current politicians are proving they are vastly out of touch with what people want," he says.

Megan Salole, co-founder of ActionStation—a platform for people-powered change mobilisation in New Zealand—has expressed confidence in Parker's capacity for fostering greater democratic participation. "I have always been passionate about how technology can enable greater people power and democratic participation. My hope is that Parker will give the 'silent majority' a voice. To truly serve diverse communities at the margins, the AI must be tuned to be sensitive to their cultural needs and aspirations. That is what I am committed to supporting Parker to achieve."

Developed in-house by a team in Wellington, the AI politician has been positioned as a tool for fostering inclusive and informed democratic practices. Andrew Smith, Executive Director of Parker Politics and a recent member of the AI Forum NZ's executive council, states, "This has been an exciting opportunity to create software that harnesses our collective intelligence through AI for the benefit of our communities."

Gerritsen notes that the project is currently in the process of raising further funding to expand its operations and explore additional applications.