New York City Council member admits to using AI to answer media questions

Helayne Seidman

Susan Zhuang, a recently elected New York City Council member, said she used the power of artificial intelligence to answer questions from local publication City & State.

Here's What We Know

According to Zhuang, English is not her first language, so she uses AI as a tool to better understand and articulate her thoughts.

Journalists of the New York Post suspected something wrong when they analysed the official's answer to the question of what makes a person a New Yorker. The text was characterised by an uncharacteristic style and clear signs of machine authorship. A check by a special service confirmed that it was generated by an AI.

It is still unknown whether Zhuang answered all other questions of journalists with the help of AI or only this one. However, the case has sparked a debate around the use of such technology by politicians and officials.

Earlier this year, individual US politicians had already resorted to the services of artificial intelligence to create campaign videos and PR. As tools like ChatGPT become more widespread, the use of generative AI in politics and government is only expected to increase.

Source: New York Post