{"id":26648,"date":"2023-05-22T14:14:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T21:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=26648"},"modified":"2023-05-22T14:14:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T21:14:48","slug":"should-dianne-feinstein-resign-or-stay-in-office-with-ai-she-can-stay-as-long-as-she-wants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/05\/22\/should-dianne-feinstein-resign-or-stay-in-office-with-ai-she-can-stay-as-long-as-she-wants\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Dianne Feinstein resign or stay in office? With AI, she can stay as long as she wants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/joe-mathews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Joe Mathews<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May 21, 2023 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.hdnux.com\/photos\/01\/32\/65\/53\/23812860\/3\/1200x0.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein attends a Senate executive business meeting on May 11 in her\u00a0return\u00a0to Washington after an extended absence due to health issues.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein attends a Senate executive business meeting on May 11 in her&nbsp;return&nbsp;to Washington after an extended absence due to health issues.Shuran Huang\/Special to The Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The fight over Dianne Feinstein\u2019s future is a foolish waste of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some Californians say our senior U.S. senator, who turns 90 next month, must step down as soon as possible so that Gov. Gavin Newsom can appoint a politician who is healthy and young enough to show up in person for all votes. Others say Feinstein was elected to the post and is the best judge of when she should leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a false choice \u2014 because we can give both sides what they want. We can make sure California is always represented in the Senate, while Feinstein can remain in the body for as long as she likes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, we could create an artificial intelligence based on&nbsp;Feinstein. Call it DiFi AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And it could handle all the tasks of a senator\u2019s job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fundraising? DiFi could reach more people in more places faster \u2014 and write less annoying email spam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Legislation? An algorithm could introduce sensible gun-control legislation that doesn\u2019t pass and do it faster than the human&nbsp;Feinstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Voting the party line? Your 12-year-old could build an AI to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More from Joe Mathews<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/nightcrawling-east-oakland-18094202.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/nightcrawling-east-oakland-18094202.php\">Tracing the steps of Leila Mottley\u2019s \u2018Nightcrawling\u2019 in East Oakland<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/nightcrawling-east-oakland-18094202.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/nightcrawling-east-oakland-18094202.php\"><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/reagan-library-democrat-republican-party-18079057.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/reagan-library-democrat-republican-party-18079057.php\">No matter your party, the Reagan Library has something for you<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/reagan-library-democrat-republican-party-18079057.php\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/opinion\/article\/reagan-library-democrat-republican-party-18079057.php\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>But why stop at handling official duties? A DiFi AI could solve political problems that elude the living, breathing Feinstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now, Gov. Newsom has to worry about the tricky politics of whom he might choose to replace Feinstein if she leaves early or dies; the AI spares him that choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, three Democratic contenders to replace Feinstein will raise millions of dollars to spend against one another \u2014 money that donors instead could devote to beating Republican candidates. Better for Democrats to unite behind the DiFi AI and avoid the costly internal warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DiFi AI also could expand the power of democracy, in a historic way. Right now, we can only vote for representatives who are alive at the time the ballots are printed. But DiFi AI would allow Californians to keep Feinstein, or her algorithmic essence, in office long after she\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, there will be knee-jerk objections to letting the dead represent the living, but those objections are easily dismissed. The U.S. is so good at killing people before their time \u2014 wars, gun violence, poor pandemic responses \u2014 that the dead could use more representation from their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Californians can hardly object to governance by ghosts. Today\u2019s citizens do less governing of our state than ballot measures approved many decades ago \u2014 like 1978\u2019s Proposition 13 \u2014 by electorates of voters who are mostly dead now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, there would be some technical challenges. Replacing a human senator with an AI of the same human senator doesn\u2019t conform with the outdated rules of the Senate. But it wouldn\u2019t be hard to convince senators to change those rules. U.S. senators have huge egos and think of themselves as indispensable. They also are old: The average age in the Senate is 64. An amendment making it possible for them to serve long after they\u2019ve shuffled off this mortal coil might achieve rare bipartisan \u2014 even unanimous \u2014 passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Filling the Senate with AIs also might be good for the public discourse. After all, human senators are hard for constituents and reporters to get on the phone or text, but AI senators would only be a click away. Since AIs adapt to new information \u2014 unlike aging senators \u2014 AI politicians might be more accountable, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d benefit personally. Sen. Feinstein doesn\u2019t talk to me \u2014 or many reporters \u2014 but, with some guidance from an AI-savvy friend, I recently asked&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/openai.com\/research\/gpt-4\">the GPT-4<\/a>&nbsp;multimodal model, from Open AI, to pretend it was a 90-year-old senator from California facing questions from a \u201cprovocative California columnist\u201d about whether she should leave office and who should replace her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a portion of the AI-generated chat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Columnist: Could an AI replace you?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Senator: Replace me? Well, that\u2019s an intriguing idea. Can an AI understand the needs of the single mother in Fresno, or the plight of the immigrant family in San Diego? Can it empathize with the struggles of the small business owner in San Francisco? Can it sit across a table from a foreign leader and negotiate peace?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Columnist: Well, with advancements in technology, they could probably do all of that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Senator: But there\u2019s a difference between doing and understanding. It\u2019s one thing to process data, quite another to feel the weight of human experiences. And politics, my dear columnist, is not just about decisions. It\u2019s about the people behind those decisions. AI may have my knowledge, but it can\u2019t have my heart.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I marveled at the savvy of this DiFi AI. She seemed to make the case for human emotions \u2014 without actually answering the question. And she didn\u2019t count herself out of the race, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Could the human Feinstein do any better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/zocalopublicsquare.org\/\">Z\u00f3calo Public Square<\/a>.<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/joe-mathews\/\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Written By <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/joe-mathews\/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Mathews<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joe Mathews is Connecting California columnist and California editor at Z\u00f3calo Public Square, an Ideas Exchange that is a project of New America and Arizona State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/img\/logos\/black\/logo.svg\" alt=\"San Francisco Chronicle Homepage - Site Logo\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/img\/core\/hearst_newspapers_logo.svg\" alt=\"HEARST newspapers logo\">\u00a92023 Hearst Communications, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Mathews May 21, 2023 (SFChronicle.com) The fight over Dianne Feinstein\u2019s future is a foolish waste of time. Some Californians say our senior U.S. senator, who turns 90 next month, must step down as soon as possible so that Gov. Gavin Newsom can appoint a politician who is healthy and&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/05\/22\/should-dianne-feinstein-resign-or-stay-in-office-with-ai-she-can-stay-as-long-as-she-wants\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[625],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26648"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26649,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26648\/revisions\/26649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}