Just around the corner may be one of the most important elections this nation has ever seen, yet many people are unaware of the details needed to cast an informed vote.
It’s not necessarily their fault—some voting information can be quite difficult to find, especially when it comes to learning to memorize the political stances of judges or a new amendment for everyday life. What could mean In a very Silicon Valley fashion, there’s an app that’s trying to help with that. My Belt A, an interactive mobile platform To help make voting information more accessible.
All a user has to do is type in a chat box what they want to know about the upcoming elections and they will get real-time answers to their queries.
This app was created by Mark Larman. It was publicly launched on Friday.. It is powered by Google Gemini and sources its data from Google Civic API and BeltReady API. One small notable feature is that the app reveals its sources when responding with information, perhaps as a way to avoid accusations of plagiarism that have plagued other chatbots.
On MyBallot, users can also fill out a sample ballot to familiarize themselves with ballot language. Larman said he hired a developer in February and “it just feels like a blessing to have it ready in time for the election.”
This app comes at a critical time. Voter misinformation remains a concern in this election, and one person in particular is causing trouble for election officials: Elon Musk. CNN The reports said. The billionaire is seeking fact-checking to prevent him from spreading claims that would “mislead voters.” Meanwhile, Axios Facebook reported. Consumers are falling for AI images endorsing fake people, with AI-generated content — including video and audio — flooding the internet. All this, coupled with the fact that Search engines have prioritized news, This makes it difficult for the average voter to find reliable information about voting.
Larman says he’s wanted to build such an app since the 2020 election. He spent time that year protesting the killing of George Floyd and, when he found himself in a voting booth, he remembered looking at the ballot and didn’t recognize who the judges were.
“I was there protesting and then when it came time to vote, I didn’t even know which of these judges was for us or against us,” he said.
He spent the next three years thinking about creating a product that could effectively educate voters. When access to artificial intelligence was democratized, he seized the opportunity to start building My Belt A. Now, he’s in the process of fundraising and still works at his day job while he builds the app.
“It’s especially important now for the app to exist as a verifiably neutral source for information,” he continued. He added that voters feel the news is biased right now. “If people weren’t so clueless and knew more about the issues and candidates they were voting for instead of just voting for the team, they would feel less cheated or lied to. ”
Many young people are also participating in elections for the first time. Every election tries to involve young voters. Less likely to vote. compared to older people. Tufts estimates that in 2020, 50% of young adults (defined as those between the ages of 18 and 29) voted in the presidential election, up from 39% in 2016.
Larman believes that young people are going to come out in this election, pointing out that young people are very active in politics, “but, on the other hand, they make the least effort to navigate the current non-user-friendly websites.” can. to learn about state and local elections and they certainly aren’t interested in reading a 100-page voting manual sent to their home.
My Belt can be used anywhere in the U.S. right now, though it says it plans to expand to other countries soon.
Larman also has other big plans for the app. It aims to develop a networking component so users can ask questions directly to candidates running for office — it will begin reaching representatives after the presidential election, around the time of the midterms. To increase engagement, Larman also hopes to add political quizzes that can then help make ballot recommendations and work with organizations and universities to reach more voters.
“I want people to trust this as a tool that doesn’t necessarily know what you think, we just want you to think.”
Credit : techcrunch.com
