Mark Matlock, a candidate for the British elections from the right-wing Reform UK party, clarified that he is a real person, not an AI bot, as some suspected.
Perhaps it was the too-smooth skin in his campaign images or the fact that Matlock missed an important event like the vote count, but earlier this week, a thread on X Twitter began to question whether Matlock even exists. «We may be on the verge of a huge scandal», — the post reads.
This possibility could not be immediately ruled out. During this election, the head of an artificial intelligence company used an AI persona to run for the UK parliament. He lost in a landslide, gaining only 179 votes.
Matlock, however, is a human candidate who turned out to be very ill during the election.
«I got pneumonia three days before the election night, I was exercising, taking vitamins so that I could be present, but it was just impossible. I couldn’t even stand on election night,» he told The Independent.
Matlock provided the publication with the original photo, the use of which attracted attention. He says the background was removed and the color of his tie was changed. The photo does indeed have the same rubbery, strange look that has come to be associated with artificial intelligence.
As noted by The GuardianSome of the Reform UK candidates have been very quiet on the internet, which has probably increased speculation about Matlock. So, if someone is planning to run for office in the near future, they should be more active in meeting with voters, participating in the necessary procedures, and not getting too carried away with photo editing.
Source: The Independent