Japan’s political party to introduce AI leader after founder quits

A recently launched political party has decided to install artificial intelligence as its leader after its maverick founder quit following a defeat in elections.

The Path to Rebirth party, which was launched in January by Shinji Ishimaru, a former mayor of a small city in western Japan, does not have a policy platform and its members are free to set their own agendas.

Ishimaru unexpectedly came second in the 2024 Tokyo gubernatorial election thanks to a successful online campaign but he quit the party after it failed to pick up any seats in this year’s upper house elections.

"The new leader will be AI," Koki Okumura, a doctoral student of AI research who described himself as an assistant to the new leader, told a news conference.

Details about the AI are yet to be decided, including when and how it will be implemented, said the 25-year-old student at Kyoto University, who will nominally be the party’s leader.

The AI will not dictate political activities of party members but will focus on decisions such as distribution of its resources among members, for example, said Okumura, who recently won a party contest to succeed Ishimaru.

While attracting media attention, the Path to Rebirth has struggled to win seats.

All of its 42 candidates lost in the June Tokyo assembly election. All of its 10 candidates who ran in the upper house election in July also lost.