See something odd along the streets? Vantaa's election campaign has begun!

Vantaa’s election campaign uses inauthentic characters, created by artificial intelligence, that aim to arouse the citizens’ attention and also stir up a little bafflement. We want to increase voting activity and pose the question: who do want to decide on matters relevant to you?

In the picture, a male figure made with artificial intelligence, standing in front of a tractor.

A character created with artificial intelligence is Bertil from a rural village.

One of the campaign's goals is to attract masses of Vantaa residents to the ballot box, since voting activity remained on exceptionally low levels in the previous elections. In addition, we want to emphasize the goals of Vantaa's government program, that is, matters that are important from the perspective of the future and success. Our key goals consist of growth, competence, future, and connections. To achieve these goals, we need the right people.

The purpose of our campaign is to make people stop and look at our message again. It is generally believed that after a quick glance, people go back to the picture, thinking “wait a minute, what did I actually just see.”

Kaisu Tolvanen, Vantaa communication and marketing manager.

“Artificial intelligence has been a frequent topic lately. Some people are afraid of its arrival, whereas some are eagerly waiting for the possibilities it brings. With this campaign, we wanted to show that artificial intelligence has a place of its own, but in the parliament we want to see real people deciding on our shared matters,” Tolvanen says.

A female figure and a whale seal made with artificial intelligence. — Artificial intelligence character Selma.

Besides artificial intelligence programs, photographer and digital artist Antti Karppinen contributed to creating the campaign.

“As a whole, this was one of the funniest projects I have been involved in. There was a lot of laughter when I started to make characters out of artificial intelligence; the customer was also greatly amused,” Karppinen says, still laughing about the creating of the campaign. Karppinen is FEP (Federation of European Photographers) Photographer of the Year 2021; he has won the first prize twice in FEP competitions, and is again a candidate in the FEP Awards 2023 competition, in as many as three categories. You can read more about artificial intelligence on Antti Karppinen’s blog.

Who do want to decide on matters relevant to you?

The campaign’s artificial-intelligence characters would surely have a lot to offer us real people, but they are not necessarily the best choice to act as your mouthpiece. By voting, you can influence who or which political party will promote issues important to you in the parliament.