The two scariest letters in the world right now are A and I. For everything we think we know about artificial intelligence, there is 100x's more unknown. Reporters, lawyers, judges, auto mechanics, and marketing people are already relying on Ai to help them in their careers. We see lawyers using Ai to cite case law and precedent in briefs, which in some cases has backfired. This week one of the co-hosts of the view listed ChatGPT as her source for claiming "Hunter DeButts" was pardoned by Woodrow Wilson. Already Ai has begun increasing productivity and revolutionized creative agencies. Although I believe we're a long way from Ai replacing humans in the workforce, one easy replacement would be congressperson. When our representative government fails to represent us, it's usually because the politician prioritizes their personal stakes over their constituents. Technology doesn't do that.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, an overwhelming majority of Americans were against vaccine mandates. Very few people thought it was fair, and most felt it was a blatant violation of our rights. Had our representatives listened and acted based on their constituents, we wouldn't have seen the tens of thousands of terminated jobs with thousands of religious exemptions denied. However, after the fact, it became clear our politicians were pushing a mandate because they had financial stake in the drug makers themselves not because thats what Americans wanted. Between lobbying and private committee sessions, our politicians in congress have great opportunities to get rich, gain power, and avoid accountability. Today, over 50% of Americans believe their congressperson does not represent them and even more believe congress out of touch. So why do we have them? Are they necessary in modern times?
Being a congressperson in it's most basic form is to act as a proxy for your constituents when voting on legislation. That is the intended nature of representative government- not the lobby obsessed, power hungry, insider traders that we see today. Our representatives have one job- show up and vote, and many of them can't even do that. Historically, politicians in congress would spend time in their districts to survey and try to get a feeling for what their voters want, but with modern technology that is completely unnecessary. Today, using surveys and other forms of data collection- any politician can gain insight into the desires of their base, even if they choose not to. The ability to get a pulse check on an issue in a district with the use of technology is readily available. Some have expressed concern that those data sources are not secure enough and could be hacked, but the current data (polling data) is far from secure, correct, or reliable as it is. The challenge then becomes the politicians, who likely have the data, and choose to put personal preference over the needs of the majority. Ai doesn't have personal preferences- and in my opinion eliminates the fraud, corruption, and greed that stems from having life-long politicians on the hill.
I know many look to the service Industry like fast food and the trucking transport business as the most appropriate for Ai to begin replacing humans, but in most of those cases the human element is necessary for success- that is not the case in politics. A representative or a proxy is merely a body present to speak on behalf of their voters, so a machine would do a much better job at true representation based on real-time data. However, a machine won't know to loosen an elderly persons soda top to make it easier before handing it to them or to be courteous and let someone pass before the highway goes to single lane. In the near future, Ai will be able to determine and decide, but as of now it's thinking is purely linear. Most would agree that linear is what we need in Washington, and eliminating the ability to profit from votes would recreate the representative government as our framers intended.
I don't know about you, but I would feel a lot more comfortable replacing my congressman with Ai over a truck driver on the roads with our families any time.
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