Citizen’s Charter of Demand - V 2.0

 Context :

British Political Candidate uses Artificial Intelligence to draw up Election Manifesto … AP News.. 19 July 2023

 

Extract :

British voters face a crowded field of 13 candidates in an upcoming special election for a Parliament seat. One, independent Andrew Gray, used artificial intelligence to come up with campaign promises that he says reflect what residents want. / andrew@andrew-gray.org

 

Gray, who says he has no policies of his own, crowdsourced constituents’ sentiments and used machine learning to come up with his political manifesto. He calls the technology a faster and fairer way for politicians to widely reflect views of the people they represent.

·                  Foreword

·        Introduction

·        Policies

– Economy
– Foreign Affairs
– Environment
– NHS
– Constitution

·        Appendix

“We can interact with our constituents in a whole new way,” Gray said. “It doesn’t change necessarily the role of the representative. It just means that we kind of know what’s going on much more quickly and we can represent them more fairly.”

Gray’s policies, developed with the use of Pol.is software, include a call for :

# higher taxes,

# a radical overhaul of the state-funded National Health Service and

# closer ties with the European Union, which Britain left three and half years ago.

 

Pol.is, developed by a Seattle group a decade ago, has notably been used in Taiwan to find policy solutions to deadlocked issues.

 

Gray says Pol.is “isn’t ChatGPT,” one of the new generative AI systems that has dazzled users with the ability to produce text, images and video mimicking human work. “It’s just slightly more sophisticated polling than what is already happening.”

 

“The A.I. isn’t that clever that it can spit out exactly what the policies are,” he says, and still needs “human moderation and ... analysis of what would be a sensible policy position.”

 

Gray uses Pol.is to canvas residents on local issues through his website.

 

People can comment on a topic, such as internet speeds. Other users can click “agree,” “disagree” or “pass/unsure.” They can’t respond directly but can post their own comments.

 

As the conversation builds, Pol.is uses machine learning in real time to group the statements, mapping them out to show where there are gaps between viewpoints as well as areas of agreement, which ideally can encourage consensus.

 

With the election expected to be hard-fought between the main U.K. parties, Gray is realistic about his chances. But if elected, Gray plans to use the technology to take his district’s temperature “on a weekly basis.” If he loses, he’ll share the data with whoever wins.

 

More than 7,500 votes have been cast on Gray’s platform, though he acknowledges the actual number of voters is likely far smaller because each one typically votes “tens of times” on multiple statements.

 

Keegan McBride, an expert on digital transformation and government at the Oxford Internet Institute who has worked with Pol.is, said the technology is useful for building consensus but works better when the more users are involved.

 

Pol.is could still work with as little as 100 to 200 users, but it raises the question of whether it’s sustainable, McBride said.

 

“Do you really want your whole platform to be decided by 100 or 200 people?” he said.

 

Gray bills himself as the first candidate in the U.K. and possibly the world using AI to reflect voters’ views, but McBride points to parties across Europe that have used digital platforms to bring democracy to the masses — with mixed results.

 

″You see a whole lot of this techno-utopian type view on democracy,” McBride said. But “democracy isn’t going to be fixed by a new technology or a new digital system or artificial intelligence or anything like that, because it’s not a technological problem. It’s a sociological one.”

 

“And it’s much more complex than just using a new tool,” he added.

 

 

MY  TAKE :

 

In the past , both BJP and Congress , have made some ( feeble ) attempts to conduct Opinion Polls / Surveys among citizen ( just before 2014 and 2019 National Elections ), to find out what they would like implemented when a new govt forms after the elections

 

Both parties claim to have incorporated into their Election Manifestos , citizens demands , revealed by surveys

 

Unfortunately , there has been no “ Online Publication “ of these so-called DEMAND SURVEYS – nor even online publication of the actual FORMATS of the Survey Questionnaires ( yes – no / true – false / agree – disagree / multiple choice etc )

 

And then, I am not aware of any of our 542 Lok Sabha members ( MPs ), to have bothered to ( formally ) ask the voters :

“ If elected , I promise to introduce into the Lok Sabha, legislation which fulfills your needs . Please , visit my website and fill in the Demand Survey “

 

 

This made me publish following blog , some 5 YEARS ago :

 

Ø  Citizen’s Charter of Demand  …………… 29 Oct 2018

 

Extract :

 

Dear Voters ,

 

For letting the politicians take us for a ride , we have no one to blame but ourselves  !

 

We have miserably failed in coming up with a citizen’s 

 

“ CHARTER  OF  DEMAND “, which :

 

·         Lists our demands

 

 ·         Groups these into,

 

#  Urgent but not Important

 

#  Important but not Urgent

 

#  Both , Urgent as well as Important

 

  

·         Devise / launch a Mobile App to solicit citizen’s response to the above , with PRIORITY RATING for each listed item ( 1 = Low  /  2 = Medium  /  3 = High )

  

·         Then arrange in descending order of priorities

 

 ·         For each item , lays down “ Quantified / Measurable “ targets , with target dates

 

 ·         Send this CHARTER of DEMAND to each political party , insisting that the Party comes out with a public statement , accepting to implement the Charter ( if voted to power , of course ) and also publish this on its web site

  

Charter will begin with following “ Declaration of Intent “ :

 

 “  We the people of India , submit the following Charter of Demands to the political

   parties contesting 2019 General Election and ask them to accept the same for

   implementing , if voted to power

  

   We will not vote for those parties which refuse to accept this charter

 

    However , if several parties accept this Charter , citizens will vote for those parties

   and their candidates , who will begin their every Election Rally Speech with re-

   affirmation of its acceptance

 

    Once a party has accepted the Charter prior to the election , it will need to publicly

   confirm its support to its implementation , even if it fails to form the government

   and sits in the opposition. “

 

 ·         Using the same Mobile App, every quarter , compile citizen feedback on their perception of “ Actual Achievement %age as against Target “ and provide this FEEDBACK of People’s perception , to the government

 

 

       

With regards,

 

Hemen Parekh

 

www.hemenparekh.ai  /  20 July 2023

 ==================================================

 

I urge the following office bearers of ,

 

ASSOCIATION  for  DEMOCRATIC  REFORMS ,  [  ADR  ]

 

to consider implementing my suggestion, if found to be desirable

 

I had sent to them , this email 5 years ago . I repeat my request in light of National Election due in Feb 2024

 

 

While considering my request , ADR officials may want to study the following TABULATION , prepared at my request, by ChatGPT :

 

Thank you for providing more context from your blog post. Based on the information you provided, I can now create a more relevant comparative tabulation between Andrew Gray's approach (using Pol.is software) and Hemen Parekh's proposed approach for finding voters' demands.

Parameter	Andrew Gray's Approach (Pol.is)	Hemen Parekh's Proposed Approach
Implementation Method	Utilizes Pol.is software, which allows constituents to express sentiments and opinions on various topics through a website.	Proposes the development and launch of a Mobile App to solicit citizen responses to a Charter of Demands with priority ratings.
Data Collection	Uses machine learning and real-time analysis to group statements and identify areas of consensus and disagreement.	Provides citizens with a structured survey format, collecting quantified and measurable demands with priority ratings.
Representativeness	Claims to reflect the views of constituents widely through AI-generated campaign promises.	Empowers citizens to directly express their demands and priorities through the Charter of Demands.
User Engagement	Allows constituents to comment and express agreement, disagreement, or pass/unsure on various topics.	Involves citizens in the process of defining demands, target dates, and priorities using the Mobile App.
Election Manifesto	Utilizes the AI-generated manifesto based on the collected sentiments.	Publishes the Citizen's Charter of Demand, which includes quantified demands, and targets for political parties to accept if voted to power.
Accountability	Plans to take the district's temperature on a weekly basis if elected and share data with the winning candidate if not successful.	Provides quarterly citizen feedback on the government's actual achievement percentage compared to the set targets.
User Base	More than 7,500 votes cast on Gray's platform, though the actual number of voters may be smaller due to multiple voting on statements.	Seeks citizen input through the Mobile App, potentially engaging a broader and diverse audience.
Long-term Viability	The effectiveness of Pol.is may depend on a larger number of users' involvement for building consensus.	The sustained use of the Mobile App may depend on user engagement and ongoing promotion.
Perceived Value	Seen as a faster and fairer way for politicians to represent constituents' views.	Seeks to give citizens a strong voice in the political process and influence party agendas.
Technological Aspect	Utilizes machine learning and data analysis to process sentiments expressed by constituents.	Incorporates AI technology for data collection and organization, but human moderation and analysis still required.

Advantages	Andrew Gray's Approach (Pol.is)	Hemen Parekh's Proposed Approach
Example Advantage	Efficiently identifies areas of consensus and disagreement among constituents.	Empowers citizens with a direct say in formulating demands and priorities.
Another Advantage	Utilizes AI technology to analyze and process large amounts of data.	Provides a structured format for collecting quantified and measurable demands.

Disadvantages	Andrew Gray's Approach (Pol.is)	Hemen Parekh's Proposed Approach
Example Disadvantage	Potential challenges in achieving a representative sample size for effective consensus-building.	The success of the Mobile App's long-term viability may depend on user engagement.
Another Disadvantage	The AI-generated manifesto may still require human moderation for sensible policy positions.	Requires political parties' commitment to implement the Charter if voted to power.

Please note that this comparison is based on the context provided, and some parameters may be more specific or nuanced in the actual blog post. If you have additional details or specific data to incorporate, feel free to let me know, and I can further refine the comparison.