CHRISTIANA, Manchester — Against the backdrop of last week’s fierce debate over a poll commissioned by the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) showing it with a five percentage point lead over the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, businessman Lyden “Trevor” Heaven is suggesting that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) be considered over traditional polling.

“I would encourage any politician to get [an] AI app quickly on his phone, because that is a tool that can give you a vast amount of information — better than the polls,” said Heaven, chairman of Fesco and proprietor of Heaven’s Fesco in Mandeville.

He said the use of AI could be beneficial with greater efficiency in how politicians canvass constituents during campaigns.

“We have been using AI without even knowing it. AI can make our lives more efficient by automating tedious jobs,” Heaven said at the Rotary Club of Christiana president’s installation in Sedburgh, Manchester, on Saturday.

“A politician can use the same app to determine his constituents who are likely to donate to his campaign and also who is likely to vote at the time of election. With that information he can be more focused on the person you need to tend to in campaigning,” he argued.

On Monday, Heaven sought to expound on his point further during an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

He said AI could be used instead of the traditional way of polling people on their political views and voting intentions.

“The poll itself looks at a specific number of individuals which usually is a sample of 1,000 persons in a particular community. What AI would do is to capture far more individuals and you can pretty much set it to whatever you want, so it is not restricted to a finite number,” Heaven said.

“It could be the entire voting list that you have. I think it is far more reliable in terms of giving a true picture as to what is happening out there on the ground [and] to identify those persons most likely to be sympathetic to you, so you can then use that information to be more targeted in terms of who you would go to visit or see,” he added.

“What AI does, it looks at historical data based on the cadre of persons, so the information is there available. To my mind, it is far more accurate than taking a poll to get a better feel as to what is happening out there in constituencies,” he argued.

Last month, Member of Parliament for St Catherine West Central and Cabinet Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said the use of AI in political campaigning could pose a threat to democracy and urged the legislature to discuss the issue with a view to establishing sanctions for people using the technology to create mischief.

He said that AI is being used, with videos posted on the social media platform TikTok, to give the impression that people have said things that they really didn’t say, or to show them doing things which they didn’t do “and the biggest target is the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party Andrew Holness,” Tufton said at the JLP’s St Catherine North Eastern constituency conference.

“The PNP is pursuing an artificial intelligence political strategy of misrepresentation, propaganda and character assassination, and Jamaicans must have none of it,” Tufton said.

However, Heaven argued that AI has its place in political campaigning.

“Couple weeks ago, Tufton spoke about the PNP trying to use or planning to use AI in [campaigning] the next general election. Me want fi know why not? And who won’t? asked Heaven.

“Guess what? You don’t know who is going to be using it. You will never know,” added Heaven.

“I am just thinking whether Chris was trying to upstage everybody else…” said Heaven.

In his address on Saturday, Heaven, past assistant governor for Rotary District 2020, told his audience that AI also has benefits for the education sector once it has managed to detect plagiarism.

“The potential of artificial intelligence to address some of the most important issues facing the world is one of its most fascinating features. The truth is, though, we have been using AI for years,” he said.