Intelligent System from Unanimous AI does Not Believe Trump Misspoke
It’s only Wednesday, but this has already been a remarkable week for the Trump administration. After a contentious NATO meeting in Belgium, the President flew to Helsinki for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At that summit, Trump was asked about potential Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Though all seven major American intelligence agencies have issued statements that confirm the existence of Russian interference, the President accepted Putin’s denials at face value, noting, “He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
That answer sparked strong reactions across the globe and, 24 hours later, an uncharacteristic correction from the President, who claimed he misspoke at the summit, and that, “the sentence should have been: ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.‘” But, by the time of Trump’s correction on Tuesday, the furor over his having sided with Putin’s denial over American intelligence agencies had already been rebuked by Republicans and Democrats alike, with some midterm candidates like Beto O’Rourke in Texas calling for his impeachment, and major figures like former CIA Director John Brennan debating whether or not Trump’s actions rose to the level of treason.
With so much at stake, researchers at Unanimous AI assembled a Swarm AI system that connected a group of American voters with AI algorithms to generate insight into the electorate’s reaction to the Helsinki Summit. The Swarm AI system harnessed real-time input from a balanced population that was 42% Independents alongside 29% Republicans and 29% Democrats. The Swarm AI system was asked a series of questions about the summit that allowed the group to combine its wisdom, experience, and intuition into an AI amplified output.
First, Unanimous researchers asked the Swarm AI system the same question reporters asked the President, did Russia interfere with the 2016 Presidential election? As you can see in the replay below, the Swarm AI is quite certain that American intelligence reports of Russian interference are accurate, and that Russia did in fact, interfere with the election.
The Swarm AI system showed less certainty in assessing the impact of that interference. Researchers asked the question multiple times, as the Swarm AI, perhaps reflecting the partisan entrenchment evident across the country, was initially polarized between “0-20%” confidence and “60-80%” confidence. That difficulty in reaching a unified output is likely due to conflicting reports. For example, in releasing the FBI’s initial findings, the Director of National Intelligence noted that it the agency “did not make an assessment of the impact Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election” while Trump, VP Mike Pence, and Mike Pompeo and others have suggested that the same report confirmed that the Russian interference “did not affect the outcome.” Ultimately, the Swarm AI converged on 60% confidence as its final output though clearly there is much still to be written on this topic.
Finally, the most important question in the wake of the Helsinki summit seems to be, can the American people trust the President? To that end, the President’s Tuesday correction and insistence that he meant to identify Russia as the likely culprit in the 2016 interference can either be accepted at face value as a legitimate mistake, or interpreted as an insincere backtrack in response to widespread criticism.
Here the Swarm AI system offers unique insight into the American voter. Given that the swarm is composed of Republican and Democrat voters in equal measure, this is a rare opportunity to see where these two polarized groups might be able to find some common ground. And here, researchers at Unanimous saw the Swarm AI clearly does not believe Trump’s claim that he misspoke in Helsinki.
A full breakdown of the Swarm AI’s insights into this important moment in American presidential history is available in the chart below. Researchers here at Unanimous AI are committed to providing ongoing insight as these stories unfold.
.
About Unanimous AI
Unanimous AI is a Silicon Valley company that has pioneered Swarm AI® technology, a new form of AI that combines real-time human insights and AI algorithms modeled after natural swarms. Unanimous has generated an impressive track record of predictions, forecasts and insights. The company’s technology has outperformed traditional AI systems and human experts in many high-profile challenges.
Unanimous works with corporate clients and leading organizations through its Swarm Insight® business intelligence service. Swarm Insight helps clients amplify the intelligence of consumer groups as well as amplify the intelligence of business teams to help make better decisions.
In 2018, Swarm AI was recognized as SXSW’s “Artificial Intelligence Innovation of the Year” and was described in a popular TED TALK here. For more about Unanimous A.I., visit http://unanimous.ai
Unanimous will be fielding swarms throughout 2018 to track the sentiment of the American public and to identify the trends and behaviors that are shaping our future. If you would like to stay informed of our research, sign up below.
Want to learn more about our Swarm AI technology? Check out our TED talk below…
