Politicians the scarf. This bot checks how much time they spend looking at their phone

A bot checks how much time politicians spend looking at their phones during important meetings. Confronting!

A common complaint from citizens is that politicians appear rather disinterested if they are constantly looking at their smartphones during a debate in the House of Representatives. When a member of the Executive Board gives his or her input, many others are staring at a screen. But how often do they actually do that? There is now an AI bot for that.

Politicians and looking at phones

Everyone regularly checks their phone. Politicians are people too, so they do this too. But they are in important debates and are always in the picture. Not handy if you’re looking at your phone all the time. The Netherlands is not unique in this regard. In Belgium, too, politicians are easily distracted.

Dries Depooter has therefore come up with a ‘solution’. It’s called “The Flemish Scrollers”. Its software that uses facial recognition to automatically call politicians in the Flemish province of Belgium, who are distracted by their phone when parliament is in session. The project came about two years after Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon caused public outrage after playing Angry Birds during a policy discussion! Yes, he really did this.