The Likud party is reportedly in advanced negotiations with an artificial intelligence company to deploy interactive campaign calls featuring a digital version of Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu, allowing voters to hold conversations with an AI-powered bot designed to encourage support for the party in the upcoming election.

According to a report in Yisroel Hayom, the system would go far beyond traditional recorded campaign messages. Voters receiving the calls would hear Netanyahu’s voice and be able to engage in a back-and-forth conversation with the AI, which would respond to questions and attempt to persuade them to vote Likud.

The initiative has already sparked criticism from within Likud itself. Some party insiders argue that replacing personal political outreach with artificial intelligence could alienate voters rather than attract them.

“People won’t connect to a bot calling them. Even if it’s Netanyahu. Once upon a time we would meet Netanyahu in the market. Today we’ll get him through a robot,” one Likud source complained.

Legal experts quoted in the report said there appears to be no legal obstacle to using such technology, provided voters are clearly informed that they are speaking with an AI system and not with Netanyahu himself. Failure to make that distinction, they warned, could potentially be considered misleading.

The report comes as recent polling continues to show Likud maintaining its position as Israel’s largest political party. According to the latest Hayom-Kantar survey, Likud would receive 24 seats if elections were held today.

The survey also indicated continued momentum for former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. For the first time since launching his political framework, Eisenkot’s party climbed to 20 seats, placing it ahead of the Bennett-Lapid alliance, which fell three seats to 19 and now ranks as the second-largest faction in the center-left bloc. Pollsters noted that Eisenkot appears to be drawing support from across the political spectrum, including some voters who previously backed Netanyahu.

The survey also found that a majority of coalition voters believe Israel emerged stronger from the latest round of regional tensions. Fifty-five percent said the country’s position had improved, while 35 percent felt it had weakened.

On the issue of the Basic Law regulating Torah study, which passed a preliminary Knesset vote this week, coalition voters expressed broad support. Forty-eight percent backed the legislation, compared to 28 percent who opposed it. Among opposition voters, however, resistance was overwhelming, with 81 percent saying they opposed the proposal.

{Matzav.com}