"AI is the new electricity. I have a hard time thinking of an industry that AI will not transform." - Andrew Ng, AI pioneer
Digital tools for democracy
The DMK is using AI to prepare its 2026 assembly poll manifesto. Through a portal built by Suresh Sambandam, the party crowdsources ideas from the public via text and voice messages. This is truly the arrival of AI in ground-level politics. The full impact of this will be felt in years to come, worldwide.
Connecting with diaspora
The portal is accessible in 25 countries for the Tamil diaspora. This ensures the final party document reflects community aspirations from around the world. Whether it translates into electoral gains is an open question for now.
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Processing citizen voices efficiently
AI uses semantic clustering to group suggestions by meaning. It categorizes inputs into themes like education and women welfare, making the massive data set easy for leaders to manage. The atomic-level work that AI enables was not possible otherwise.
Priority automated scoring
The system assigns scores to identify priorities. This helps the committee focus on popular ideas and assists in drafting a manifesto directly from collected voter opinions. This is possible only when a government or Party willing to listen to people's voices holds power.
Ensuring data security and privacy
The committee, led by MP Kanimozhi, is conducting roadshows for awareness. Developers say names and mobile numbers are encrypted to ensure voter privacy is maintained throughout the digital process.
Summary
The DMK is modernizing political engagement by using an AI portal to crowdsource and analyze citizen suggestions for its 2026 manifesto. By employing semantic clustering and automated scoring, the party turns diverse global inputs into actionable policy priorities while ensuring strict data security for all participants.
Food for thought
If political manifestos are drafted by algorithms based on popular sentiment, will parties lose their ideological identities?
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AI concept to learn: Semantic clustering
Semantic clustering is an AI technique that groups information based on meaning rather than keywords. It allows computers to understand that different phrases discuss the same topic. This helps humans organize thousands of messages into clear categories very quickly.
[The Billion Hopes Research Team shares the latest AI updates for learning and awareness. Various sources are used. All copyrights acknowledged. This is not a professional, financial, personal or medical advice. Please consult domain experts before making decisions. Feedback welcome!]
