In this blog series, members of our national Pathways to Politics community share practical insights into how they’re using AI in real-world political contexts, tips on where AI can be useful, lessons they’ve learned along the way, and areas where they believe caution is needed.

Elisa Choy

Elisa Choy is an award-winning economist and data analyst, and winner of the Women in AI Asia-Pacific Award for AI in Marketing and MarTech. Elisa founded Maven Data in 2020, Australia’s first AI-powered strategic market research company, and was dubbed ‘The Election Whisperer’ after accurately predicting elections in Australia and the US. She is an alum of the 2024 NSW program.

AI Is Like MSG in the ’90s — Please Use It Sparingly

In the age of AI on everything, it’s become like MSG on everything — the famous flavour enhancer of the ’90s. It made everything taste better. But I caution against it. It’s so deliciously enticing to use AI on everything, but please never lose the core essence of your humanity. Anything written by AI has no human energy, because it’s not human.

Politics is won by connecting heart to heart on a human level, not by being the most productive, smart or efficient. So use AI sparingly and intentionally, like a nice condiment that enhances the meal — never as the main source of strategy, content or messaging. As humans, we can smell junk from a mile away.

What I Used AI For

AI made me appear smart. My guiding premise was: emotions drive behaviour, strong emotions change behaviour.

My career in AI was using it to analyse petabytes of online content, measuring the emotional resonance of people engaging online, to uncover the key issues they cared about most. This was all self-initiated self-funded research through my company Maven Data, used to prove the efficacy of AI in political use cases.

Using my analysis, I predicted major election outcomes in the US and Australia during 2020 and 2022, with consistent accuracy. I predicted the Teal Wave — some journalists laughed at me for such brazen calls (who’s laughing now?) But neither AI nor I alone could have replicated that success without the other — the human guiding the grunt work of the machine.

Where This Is Headed

And so, back to my uncanny ability to see future behavioural trends: AI must be used as a condiment, never the main story, driver or strategist. Be superhumanly discerning about how you use it. Voters seek real human-to-human engagement — build that muscle now, while everyone else is piling on MSG. The human way may be slow, but slow and steady wins the race.

Do you seek the masses or the marginal? Do you prioritise efficiency over engagement? Do you value communication or connection? There is no right or wrong. It’s a choice. Watch this space.

Full contributions

• Dr Josephine Okurame, AI educator and researcher
• Cr Elisha Lee, Deputy Mayor City of Monash
• Susanne Newton, former Mayor City of Darebin
• Ruth McGowan, former Mayor of Baw Baw Shire Council and author of Get Elected
• Cr Leanne Patrick, Gladstone Regional Council
• Elisa Choy, founder of Australia’s first AI-powered strategic market research company