Aotearoa Educators Collective launches a Call on
Political Leaders to Commit to Ethical Campaigning ahead of
the General Election
The Aotearoa Educators Collective
(AEC) is calling on every political party and candidate
contesting the upcoming General Election to commit publicly
to honest, respectful and transparent campaigning, including
clear limits on the use of artificial intelligence in
political communication.
In their Call on Political
Leaders to Commit to Ethical Campaigning released today, the
collective argues that politicians seeking to lead Aotearoa
New Zealand should be held to the same standards educators
expect from young people every day: tell the truth, think
critically, disagree respectfully and take responsibility
for the impact of their words and actions.
“Our
rangatahi are watching,” says AEC. “We cannot spend our
days teaching young people about integrity, digital
citizenship, critical thinking and respectful disagreement,
then accept a completely different standard from the adults
asking to lead the country.”
The open letter calls
on parties and candidates to make five
commitments:
- Tell the truth and reject deliberate
misinformation, distortion and deceptive political
advertising. - Debate ideas, not people, challenging
policies robustly without resorting to personal attacks,
inflammatory rhetoric or fear-based division. - Be
transparent about political donations, campaign funding,
lobbying and the evidence behind campaign
claims. - Use AI responsibly and sparingly, including
refusing to fabricate images, voices, video, quotations or
events, impersonate opponents or misrepresent
reality. - Protect democratic institutions and respect
electoral processes, public servants, journalists and the
separation between government resources and political
campaigning.
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AEC is particularly concerned about
the rapidly growing capacity of generative AI to produce
convincing but fabricated political content.
The
collective is asking political parties to commit to clearly
identifying significant AI-generated campaign material and
to retain meaningful human responsibility for all political
communication.
“AI presents extraordinary
opportunities, but elections are not the place for
technological tricks that make it harder for citizens to
distinguish fact from fiction,” AEC says.
“If
political parties expect schools to teach responsible and
ethical use of AI, political leaders need to model that
behaviour themselves.”
Alongside the open letter,
AEC is inviting every political party contesting the
election to publish an AEC Ethical Electioneering Pledge,
publicly affirming that they will abide by the principles
outlined in the letter.
AEC says the pledge is
deliberately not about political ideology or policy
positions.
“This is not about asking parties to
agree with one another. Democracy depends on disagreement.
It is about agreeing on the standards by which that
disagreement takes place.”
The collective is also
inviting teachers, principals, school leaders, boards,
parents, caregivers and members of the wider public to add
their names to the open letter.
AEC says the issue
goes well beyond a single election
campaign.
“Democracy is shaped not only by who wins
an election, but by how that election is
contested.
“The campaign tactics normalised today
become part of the political culture our young people
inherit tomorrow.
“We are asking every party, from
every part of the political spectrum, to demonstrate that
winning an election does not matter more than maintaining
the integrity of our democracy.”
The Aotearoa
Educators Collective will provide the open letter and list
of signatories to political parties, candidates and media
and will publish which political parties have chosen to sign
the Ethical Electioneering Pledge.
Open letter and
signatories: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/an-open-letter-calling-for-ethical-electioneering
Sign
the open letter calling on political parties and candidates
to campaign with honesty, integrity, transparency and
respect.
