ASIA
AI in Elections in East and Southeast Asia
From left to right: (top) CALD Youth chairperson Jeremiah Tomas, CALD Executive Director Celito Arlegue, School of Social Justice Founding Director Alvin Carpio, and WR Numero President and CEO Cleve V. Arguelles; (bottom) Professor Dr. Julio Teehankee, Friedrich Naumann Foundation Philippine Office Country Director Dr. Almut Besold; and CALD chairperson Mardi Seng.
© The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD)The landscape of AI in politics in Southeast and East Asia is quite diverse, ranging from using AI to increase voter participation and transparency to employing AI to monitor public sentiment and to control information flow.
The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, studied the use of AI and published a policy paper: “AI in Elections in East and Southeast Asia: Opportunities, challenges, and ways forward for democrats and liberals”. The paper includes case studies from Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan.
The policy paper identifies AI’s potential to transform political processes and democracy in East and Southeast Asia. The paper also addresses the role of AI in voter engagement, voter data analysis, party mobilization and election administration. On the other hand, threats are also identified, for example, AI-generated disinformation including deep fakes.
The policy paper provides a set of recommendations for CALD to take specific steps to support its member parties, creating peer-to-peer exchanges to foster a democratic and inclusive digital ecosystem. CALD will play a proactive role in advocating and shaping ethical, effective use of AI. Please read more about the policy paper here.
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You can download the paper here:
*Hnin Wint Naing is the regional communication officer Southeast and East Asia of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom