Labour MP sets up AI chatbot … and it won’t say if Starmer is a good PM – The Telegraph
Mark Sewards’s dithering cyber alter ego is ridiculed by political opponents and social media pundits
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A Labour MP has become the first British politician to make an AI chatbot of himself.
The AI clone was created in an attempt to allow constituents to contact Mark Sewards “any time of the day”, but its responses, when tested by The Telegraph, were somewhat lacklustre.
When asked to identify key political figures, the Sewards chatbot could not say who the Chancellor or the Deputy Prime Minister were, could not answer whether Sir Keir Starmer was a good Prime Minister, and did not even know who the monarch was.
Mr Sewards, who has been the MP for Leeds South West and Morley since 2024, said he had designed, and lent his voice, to the animated chatbot in order to “help strengthen the connection between an MP’s office and the constituents we serve”.
He said that he “knew very little about AI” but believed “the revolution is coming … whether we embrace it or not”.
A chatbot is a program that people can interact with, including asking questions. Sometimes they can only issue pre-set responses, however AI chatbots are presumed to be able to offer more wide-ranging answers.
But talking to Mr Sewards’s alter ego proves a mixed experience at best.
It is keen to stress that it focuses on local issues, but when asked about works on a new train station in its Leeds South West and Morley constituency, the bot could not answer.
The Telegraph asked about the White Rose station, which is being built in the constituency, but the AI was not able to say when the station would be completed, or how much it cost, and suggested we focus on local constituency issues.
When asked about local bin collection times, the AI directed us toward the local council, and urged us to check their website. When asked about the state pension, it encourages visitors to contact the Pension Service.
Undeterred, we asked the classic question which foils many a politician: How much is a pint of milk?
Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, when asked the question on television by Jeremy Paxman in 2023, declared: “About 80p or something”, significantly lower than the real price at the time.
But AI Mr Sewards didn’t even get that close, sidestepping the question and saying it didn’t have access to that information, before asking if we had anything “local or policy-related” on our mind.
Asked if it thought Keir Starmer was a good PM, the chatbot once again answered with a deflection to local issues.
Lee Anderson, the Reform MP, told The Telegraph that “Keir Starmer should adopt this method at the despatch box. Might get a proper answer then”.
Mr Seward’s bot was also unable to answer whether it thought it appropriate for MPs to have AI do part of their job for them.
The real Mr Seward said he was “sceptical at first” about engaging with the AI startup that developed the bot.
He told the BBC: “I knew very little about AI, but the one thing we do know is that the revolution is coming. It’s coming whether we embrace it or not.”
The bot has attracted a range of criticism, both from other MPs and on social media.
Alan Mak, who was the Tories’ shadow secretary for technology before last month’s reshuffle, told The Telegraph he was against the use of AI to replace MPs.
He said that an AI could not “replace the visibility, hard work, judgment and empathy” which MPs of all parties must show to serve their constituents.
One social media user posted in response to the chat bot: “Maybe you should actually do your job, you useless twit.”
Another user wrote: “Does that mean that we can save on your salary and expenses?”
Ben Obese-Jecty, a Conservative MP, said on X that the AI version of Mr Sewards looked like “the affable but hapless middle-manager in a Pixar movie who gets whisked away on a magical adventure with his genius dog who continually bales him out of disaster after disaster, teaching him a valuable lesson about life”.
The chatbot was created by the firm Neural Voice, which says all conversations are sent to “Mark and his team” to be reviewed.
Jeremy Smith, 27, the firm’s chief executive, said: “Right now, the main purpose of AI Mark is to focus on local issues – the sort of issues that people call up his team on a daily basis to discuss.
“That doesn’t tend to be the much wider issues of what’s going on with Donald Trump, which people love to ask AI Mark.”
Mr Sewards said on Wednesday: “The AI can’t ever replace any of the other work my team or I do. The surgeries, the canvassing, the phone calls, the campaigns, the meetings, the events, they all stay. This is just a potential addition that might help our work.
“If we can get this prototype working as intended, I can imagine it replacing the voicemail system we use when my office is closed.
“It would still take messages but could ask questions and potentially solve problems for people while the office is closed. If we can’t get it working like this, we won’t use it.
“A constituent asked me to make this with his local business and there is almost nothing I won’t do to support businesses in Leeds South West & Morley.”
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