How Generative AI is transforming Indonesia's election

A doe-eyed cartoon version of Gen. Prabowo Subianto - produced using generative AI - is emblazoned on billboards across Indonesia. It's reproduced on sweatshirts and stickers, and featured prominently on #Prabowo-tagged posts that have some 19 billion views on TikTok.

Prabowo is Indonesia's defence minister. But on social media, his chubby-cheeked AI avatar makes Korean-style finger hearts and cradles his beloved cat, Bobby, to the delight of Gen Z voters. About half of Indonesia's 205 million voters are under 40.

The general elections on Feb. 14 in Indonesia, the world's third-largest democracy, offer a glimpse of how generative AI may transform large-scale political campaigning, experts say.

The AI-generated cartoon has been central to the electoral rebranding of Prabowo, who is far ahead in polls. Instead of portraying himself as a fiery nationalist, as he did in two prior failed presidential bids, the 72-year-old's new catchphrase is "gemoy" - which is Indonesian slang for cute and cuddly.

"I'll vote for him because he's gemoy," said Putri, a first-time voter. "That's the main reason."

Prabowo - and his doppelganger created using technology from U.S. firm Midjourney Inc - is leading hundreds of candidates in using generative AI tools to create campaign art, track social media sentiment, build interactive chatbots, and target voters.

The Prabowo campaign and Midjourney, whose guidelines bar its use for political campaigning, did not respond to requests for comment.

Harbath, who expressed surprise that AI tools had been adopted by campaigns in Indonesia so quickly, said it was too early to judge the overall electoral impact of such "unprecedented and groundbreaking" use of technology.

Reuters interviewed 26 people to assess the use of AI technology in Indonesia's campaign, including political advisors, lobbyists, tech executives, experts, and artists creating generative AI images for politicians. Some spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

With countries home to one third of the world's population heading to the polls this year, including the United States and India, the elections in Indonesia are a test for how OpenAI will police its policies, according to seven political lobbyists and experts.

Many of the AI tools used in Indonesia's election are powered by OpenAI, nine senior campaign staffers told Reuters. That includes Prabowo's platform, according to his digital team's coordinator.

OpenAI said that it was investigating political chatbots and tools identified by Reuters in Indonesia as using its technology. It said an initial review found "no evidence" of its tools being used in the election and it was committed to transparency and elevating accurate information.

Political consultant Yose Rizal said the Pemilu.AI app he developed uses OpenAI's GPT-4 and 3.5 software to craft hyper-local campaign strategies and speeches.

The Indonesian consultant said he has sold the app's services to 700 legislative candidates. Reuters was not able to independently confirm the sales.

Pemilu.AI pulls together demographic data and crawls social media and news websites, allowing it to generate speeches, slogans, and social media content tailored to a constituency.

Candidates list their political priorities and choose how they seek to be po