I, Robot: New AI-Powered Party Sets Sail for Danish Parliament

In order to reach out to 20 percent of Danes who normally opt out of voting, the Synthetic Party used AI to analyze all of Denmark's fringe parties' proclamations written since 1970 to represent what is considered to be “the political vision of an ordinary person”.

A new political party whose policies are derived entirely from artificial intelligence (AI) hopes to win the hearts and minds of Danes in the next election in June 2023.

Aptly called the Synthetic Party, the group was founded in May 2021 in Jutland, and seeks to specifically reach out to 20 percent of Danes who normally opt out of voting. The Synthetic Party's take is that the traditional parties failed to appeal to these voters, and its goal is therefore to reach the milestone of 100 percent voting participation for the first time in electoral history.

According to Asker Bryld Staunæs, one of the founding members of the new collective, the party “takes its departure in an analysis of Denmark's voting system and its optimization”. He also described the party's goal as “a way to mimic and simulate the political process throughout but in a direct confrontation of the apparatus of lawmaking and political enforcement and organization rights”

With the help of AI, designed and programmed by the Aarhus artist group Computer Lars, the Synthetic Party analysed all of Denmark's fringe parties written proclamations since 1970 to represent what it believes to be “the political vision of an ordinary person”. As of now, Denmark has 230 microparties, the Synthetic Party included.

Among the party’s current proposals is the introduction of a universal basic income of DKK 100,000 (nearly $13,800) a month — more than double the average Danish salary. Furthermore, it backs the addition of an 18th UN sustainable development goal that would allow “humans and algorithms to coexist more directly than now”.

So far, the party has yet to gather over 20,000 signatures to run for parliament in the 2023 vote. If elected, the party plans to incorporate AI into the work of the Danish parliament as well.

As of now, the Synthetic Party holds general meetings in a publicly accessible Discord group. Here, the party's AI is included in discussions with the members around the clock. In the group, one can meet, among other things, its “leader” Leder Lars, the “party secretary” Computer Lars and the other AI-driven members.