Vice President Bawumia’s AI Chatbox Campaign Draws Ridicule

An attempt by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to bolster his online campaign with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot named GTPBawumia, capable of responding to a stream of questions from voters, seems to have backfired.

The trained chatbot, nicknamed GTPBawumia, on the popular social platform X (formerly Twitter), is catching attention for all the wrong reasons, with many users finding humor in the responses they are receiving.

Promoted by several party communicators, including Campaign Spokesperson Dennis Miracles Aboagye, the chatbot is designed to address queries about the vice president’s plans and vision for Ghana in the upcoming December 7 general election.

In a tweet aimed at driving traffic to the flagbearer’s campaign, Mr. Aboagye shared a link inviting users to engage with Dr. Bawumia’s chatbot at bawumiagpt.com, promising insights into his campaign and plans for the country.

The chatbot also attempted to tackle questions related to President Akufo-Addo’s government, under which Bawumia serves as vice president.

Many questions centered around issues such as corruption, power outages, the national cathedral project, economic matters, the PDS scandal, and past inquiries directed at the late Vice President Paa Kwasi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur.

However, despite the enthusiastic response from X users flocking to the platform, many returned with puzzling and unsatisfactory answers, leading to doubts about the functionality of the chatbot.

One notable example was a question regarding the inflation rate rise to 54.1%, which received a vague response attributing it to the leadership of President Akufo-Addo and Bawumia himself without offering detailed explanations.

Another inquiry about the cost of the abandoned $58 million national cathedral project similarly received a generic response lacking specifics.

The chatbot’s handling of questions regarding the 170 queries posed to Vice President Amissah-Arthur in 2016 also left users dissatisfied, with responses failing to address the concerns adequately.

Overall, users raised concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the information provided by GTPBawumia, with some speculating that the platform might soon be deactivated due to the inconsistencies in its responses.

Despite attempts to shed light on various government projects and policies, the chatbox’s performance has led to skepticism and amusement among users, highlighting the challenges of utilizing AI technology for political campaigning.