An artificial intelligence character named “Gaitana” is set to run in Colombia’s parliamentary elections on March 8, aiming to win one of the seats reserved for Indigenous communities — and potentially become the first AI bot to serve as a lawmaker in the lower house of a sovereign state.
Meet 'Gaitana': the AI candidate running in Colombia's parliamentary elections
Gaitana was created by Carlos Redondo, a member of the Zenú community on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The AI character is named after a legendary Indigenous woman regarded as a symbol of resistance. She has a robotic voice and blue skin, and voters wishing to support her will need to mark the letters “IA” on the ballot — the Spanish abbreviation for “Inteligencia Artificial.”
Gaitana is presented as an advocate for environmental protection and animal rights, and her platform is built around the concept of “digital democracy.”
According to Redondo’s plan, the bot would function as a participatory platform: Members of Gaitana’s community will raise issues for discussion, she will gather their opinions, and based on the majority view, determine how to vote on legislation.
For example, if a 200-page bill were introduced, Gaitana would convert it into five infographics summarizing the key data and share them with her community, which currently numbers more than 10,000 people, including Indigenous and Afro-Colombian members. Participants would then express their views, Gaitana will distill the responses into “yes” and “no” positions and count them. Whichever side receives more than 50% support would determine how she votes in parliament.
Because Colombian law does not allow a non-human candidate to be formally registered, the electoral authorities approved Redondo and another individual to occupy the parliamentary seat if the campaign succeeds, acting in accordance with Gaitana’s directives.
Redondo acknowledges that his AI creation is far from perfect. It currently runs on just three small servers, and there is still room for improvement in areas such as data security and the aggregation of diverse opinions. But he describes the initiative primarily as an anti-establishment project, aimed at challenging sitting politicians and what he calls the flawed way in which they make legislative decisions.