Generative AI may change elections this year. Indonesia shows how

A billboard promoting Indonesia's Defence Minister and Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and current Surakarta's Mayor, is pictured amongst political party flags, during rush hour in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo

Reuters
JAKARTA, Feb 08 (Reuters) - Fika Juliana Putri, a 19-year-old shopkeeper in East Jakarta, plans to vote in Indonesia's presidential election next week for a once-feared former special forces commander. She likes him, she says, because he's cuddly.

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. MORE