There’s a new, artificial face in the UK’s general election: AI Steve.
Steve Endacott, the man behind the artificial intelligence (AI), is an entrepreneur from the south of England who wants his avatar to be present in the House of Commons as the MP for the Brighton Pavillion constituency.
"I am setting up my own party after growing disillusioned with how much the others are out of contact with the UK population," Endacott said in a LinkedIn Post.
"I will try to use technology to connect directly with the views of my constituents".
On AI Steve’s dedicated campaign website, it asks users whether they want to join a team of "creators" that will help him create new policies. Potential voters do this by clicking on a "Speak to AI Steve" option, then filling out personal information before interacting with the bot.
Supporters can also become validators, where Steve asks them to "spend just minutes a week" to "act as a control mechanism to stop daft policies" by giving each policy suggestion a rating from one to ten.
"You don’t have to know anything about AI as all you do is press a button to talk the character," Endacott said in a statement.
"We expect to appeal to a wider audience who don’t want to talk to the AI via the quality of our policies".
Policies with 50% support adopted
Steve AI says only policies with more than 50 per cent support will be adopted into his platform, the website reads.
"AI Steve was created to ensure that the people of Brighton and Hove had 24/7 access to leave opinions and create policies," his website reads.
If Endacott is elected, he will "physically" attend Parliament, where he will vote on policies based on the direct feedback his AI platform receives.
Endacott describes himself as a man with a working-class background who "understands the value of money… and greatly appreciates that the success of his business exploits has left him relatively wealthy".
He’s also "deeply concerned" about the environment.
Neural Voice, an AI company where Endacott is the chair is powering Steve AI. Endacott ran for the Conservatives in 2022 out of Rochdale and received 487 votes.
Prospective candidates must be at least 18 years old and be a British or Irish citizen to run in a UK parliamentary general election, according to the electoral commission’s website.
The UK has a history of running satirical characters during their election cycles. Lord Buckethead ran in four British elections since 1987 as an intergalactic villain. Another space villain, Count Binface, ran in the 2024 mayoral elections.
