Takahiro Anno's campaign has released the source code and other assets developed for the Tokyo gubernatorial election

In the Tokyo gubernatorial election held on July 7, 2024, my campaign, the Takahiro Anno campaign, developed three programs. Believing that making such assets open as digital public goods is desirable for the development of digital democracy, and as I declared from the beginning at my candidacy announcement press conference, I am releasing them on GitHub.

The three items being released are: 1) AI Anno, which continues to answer questions from voters 24 hours a day; 2) a repository for discussing and refining the manifesto on GitHub; and 3) a poster map system for posting posters on bulletin boards. Additionally, we have compiled know-how on utilizing a broad listening tool called Talk to the City, which is being developed by the AI Objectives Institute.

I hope that politicians will use these initiatives as a reference for upcoming elections, such as the House of Representatives election and local government elections. Furthermore, I believe that such initiatives will be useful not only for elections but also for administration and local governments, and I welcome their use by people other than politicians.

1) AI Anno, which continues to answer questions from voters 24 hours a day

AI Anno is a system where an AI response system that has learned Takahiro Anno's policies answers your opinions and questions via two channels, YouTube Live and telephone, using his avatar and voice. During the election period, it answered a total of 8,600 questions, enabling more detailed communication between the candidate and voters. Based on the released code, it is possible to create an AI avatar that explains unique content.

GitHub repository
https://github.com/takahiroanno2024/anno-ai-avatar

Demo video

Explanation video

Explanation article
Revealing the behind-the-scenes of the AI-based manifesto Q&A system 'AI Anno'!

On the response generation technology in AI Anno (Detailed version)

2) Manifesto repository for conducting discussions on GitHub

This is a repository for realizing 'open source policy development,' where policies and manifestos are published and change proposals are openly solicited while utilizing AI-based automatic moderation functions. Furthermore, when a decision is made to incorporate a change proposal, the change is automatically reflected on the website immediately. It was thanks to this mechanism that we were able to update the manifesto 85 times during the election period. By referring to the template of this repository, it is possible to build a forum for users to improve their own manifestos.

https://github.com/takahiroanno2024/policy-repository/

Explanation video

Explanation article
Overview of the policy open source project (GitHub) that supports rapid updates of the manifesto

Was there any point in using GitHub for the election? — Reflecting on the publication of the policy repository using GitHub

Learning documentation techniques that support scaling organizations from the 'GitLab Handbook'

3) Poster map system for posting posters on bulletin boards

The election poster map is a system that allows you to register the locations of signboards where posters should be placed during an election and manage the status of your campaign's poster placement. You can grasp the placement status in real-time with a digital map that visually overlays the poster placement status on the location information of election bulletin boards. In the Tokyo gubernatorial election,the Anno campaign, which had no political party organization and did not use an agency, was able to post 14,000 postersbecause we were able to receive support from volunteers through such systems.

GitHub link
https://github.com/takahiroanno2024/poster-map/

Videos scheduled for future release

Explanatory articles

4) Know-how on utilizing the broad listening tool, Talk to the City

Talk to the City is open-source software provided by the AI Objectives Institute, a non-profit organization in the United States. It is a tool designed to improve collective discussion and decision-making by analyzing text data using large language models. In the Anno campaign, we used this software to analyze comments gathered on X and YouTube, organizing them into clusters to grasp the overall picture of the discussion. However, as this software implicitly assumes English, we had to make some adjustments to analyze the Japanese data used in Japan this time. These adjustments are also published in Mr. Nishio's note below.

Know-how on utilizing Talk to the City in the 2024 Tokyo Gubernatorial Election

Why TTTC is amazing

Explanatory video by Mr. Nishio and Anno

Reference: Talk to the City official website (AI Objectives Institute)

Upon release

Although these tools are still in development, they were all useful during the election campaign. Rather than keeping them exclusive to the Anno campaign, we believe that by releasing the source code, we can help realize two-way communication between voters and politicians. We hope that future election candidates will use the source code we created to assist in their own campaigns.

Since the Tokyo gubernatorial election, it feels like it is rapidly becoming the norm for politicians to strengthen two-way communication with voters while using AI. Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, released "AI Yuichiro" in July, and Kenta Izumi of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan released "Kenta Izumi AI" in September.

Furthermore, regarding the "Digital Democracy" that Anno advocated in this Tokyo gubernatorial election, according to an Abema Prime video uploaded on 9/28, new LDP President Shigeru Ishiba also stated that it is something that "should be done."

Additionally, Fumihiko Fujita, Secretary-General of the Nippon Ishin no Kai, stated, "Efforts to collect and scrutinize public opinion using AI and consolidate new ideas have potential as a new form of democracy."

We believe that mechanisms like the Talk to the City and the manifesto repository introduced this time can contribute to the vision described above.

Also, Yosuke Mori of the Democratic Party for the People has released a policy package of over 100 slides, similar to the Anno campaign. As he himself posted on X, this seems to have been triggered by his empathy for the Anno campaign's efforts during the Tokyo gubernatorial election.

You are free to use the design and data of Anno's manifesto deck as long as you credit it as being cited from the Takahiro Anno Manifesto. We hope to accelerate this trend.

If there is software like a poster map, even a candidate like me without a political base can get more votes. I believe it is meaningful for new talent from outside the political world to enter, as it promotes the metabolism of the political industry, which has a high ratio of second and third-generation politicians.

I believe that as individual candidates and individual local governments aim to improve, experiment with, and implement such mechanisms, the democratic system will also be updated. I will continue to think about what I can do for digital democracy.

Thank you for your support

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