On Tuesday, Saisei no Michi (the Path to Rebirth party) announced that its next leader will be AI. Shinji Ishimaru, who launched the party in January, recently quit after 10 candidates all failed to win seats in July’s Upper House election. That came after all 42 of Saisei no Michi’s candidates lost in the Tokyo assembly election in June.
Kyoto University Student To Assist AI Leader
“The leader will be AI Penguin. We’ll develop AI and have it make decisions for the party,” said Koki Okumura, a student at Kyoto University. The 25-year-old, who conducts research using AI to gain insights from big data related to education, will serve as the nominal head of the party. However, he informed reporters that his actual role will be as an assistant to the new AI leader.
It has not been decided when the new leader will take over or how it will be implemented. According to Okumura, who lost in the Tokyo assembly election, a roadmap will be presented in the future. He said that the AI will direct the distribution of resources but will not be dictating the political activities of its members.
The Path to Rebirth Party’s Founder
Ishimaru, the former mayor of Akitakata, Hiroshima Prefecture, launched the party earlier this year due to concerns over the future of Japan. “For a long time I’ve had the growing feeling that things were getting bad in this country, and that we need to do something about it,” said Ishimaru. “I think Japan needs to change to the point of rebirth,” he added.
In the 2024 Tokyo governor’s race, Ishimaru surprisingly finished second behind Yuriko Koike, garnering more than 1.6 million votes. Renho Saito, backed by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, was expected to Koike’s closest challenger. She finished third. Running as an independent candidate, Ishimaru gained a lot of support by criticizing traditional political parties via videos and messages posted online.
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AloJapan.com