Japanese political party shocks by choosing AI chatbot as leader

An emerging political party in Japan is making headlines by announcing that it will have an AI chatbot with an AI penguin avatar take on the leadership role.

Mr. Shinji Ishimaru, former Mayor of Akitakata City, speaks during an election campaign in Tokyo, July 6, 2024 - Photo: AFP

In Japan, an emerging political party is looking to shake up political life with a striking plan: letting artificial intelligence (AI) take over leadership.

Ambition to bring AI into the corridors of power

The "Path to Rebirth" Party was founded in January 2025 by Mr. Shinji Ishimaru - former Mayor of Akitakata City, Hiroshima Prefecture.

According to CNN on September 19, the party announced its intention to choose a chatbot with a penguin avatar as its "AI leader".

The plan comes after the party suffered defeats in Tokyo local elections and the Upper House election earlier this year, winning none of the more than 50 seats it contested, leading to Mr. Ishimaru's resignation in August.

In the subsequent vote to select a new leader, 25-year-old doctoral student Koki Okumura, an AI major at Kyoto University, won. However, at a press conference announcing the results, Okumura surprisingly announced that he would not directly run the party, but would only act as an assistant to an “AI leader” who would soon be born.

He said the party would give full decision-making power to the AI ​​system, revealing that its avatar would be a penguin avatar - inspired by Japanese people's love of animals.

However, this chatbot will not run in the election because the election law requires candidates to be Japanese citizens. So Mr. Okumura will still hold the position of representative in name, but in reality, all decisions about the party's activities will be taken by AI.

“I believe AI can do many things with greater accuracy than humans. This approach allows us to take into account voices that are often overlooked by humans, which can create a more inclusive and humane political environment,” he said.

A preparatory committee is being set up to build the system, but there is no specific timeline or official image of the "penguin" leading it.

For Okumura, letting an AI chatbot lead the party is not just about participating in politics, but also about pioneering a new path - Photo: REUTERS

Debating the role of AI in politics

Okumura’s move has sparked much debate about the possibility of AI entering politics. In recent years, the Japanese government has also strongly promoted the application of AI to deal with the shrinking workforce due to the aging population, applying it to many administrative tasks, matchmaking or detecting abandoned houses.

However, no agency or organization has proposed to let AI take over the entire decision-making role, as the Road to Rebirth Party plans.

Some experts are skeptical, saying the project may be as "difficult to take off" as the penguin itself.

Political science professor Hiroshi Shiratori (Hosei University, Tokyo) commented that Japanese voters are not ready for a party that depends entirely on AI, because "voters choose people they can trust and parties that represent their true feelings, and AI is completely separate from that."

He also warned that if all parties hand over decision-making power to AI, all parties could become identical, going against the nature of pluralistic democracy.

There have been several attempts to bring AI into politics around the world, such as Wyoming (USA) mayoral candidate Victor Miller with chatbot VIC or "AI Steve" running for parliament in the UK.

Both of them used ChatGPT to run the model, saying they found the advantage of AI being creative and being able to communicate with the public at any time of the day.

Many scholars also emphasize that although AI can help increase the efficiency of data analysis, it cannot replace humans in making political decisions, because this is a field that requires values, ethical judgment and social interaction - factors that AI cannot replace.

Despite the controversy, Okumura insists he wants to open a new direction: "We are entering a world where humans will interact with AI. If that happens, we have to rethink the social and political systems that have long been the default. We want to be the first to experiment with that."

Back to topic

HA DAO

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dang-chinh-tri-nhat-ban-gay-soc-khi-chon-chatbot-ai-lam-lanh-dao-20250919170617624.htm