In an unprecedented move, a group of Indian youth entrusted their voting decisions to artificial intelligence (AI) in a groundbreaking experiment led by Policy 4.0, an emerging tech think tank. This initiative marks India’s first exploration into augmented democracy, a concept previously explored in Europe through Voting Advice Applications (VAAs).
The study, titled ‘An AI Experiment for Augmented Democracy in India,’ involved real Indian GenZ voters and tested the ability of large language models (LLMs) to make voting decisions on Indian politics. The study ran three AI experiments and created two AI twins for each voter. Findings showed that current LLM models could reasonably model their voter sample and potentially minimize polarization.
This is particularly relevant for India’s young voters, a significant group in the country’s electoral outcomes. Over 15 million first-time voters and approximately 200 million voters aged 20-29 years will participate in the 2024 elections. The study focused on profiling voters under 29 and suggests that voting assistants could empower Indian youth to make informed voting decisions.
Participants, including first-time voters and many undecided on their political preference, found the study thought-provoking. Devank Kumar Singh, a 20-year-old participant from Bangalore, noted that explaining his rationale to the AI helped him understand his assumptions. Taaha Nizam, a 23-year-old voter from Mumbai, saw AI as a tool for making data-driven decisions.
