AI users were quick to catch the language when Bill Oliver, a Canadian politician, said he would present a “more natural, flowing version” of what he already said in his speech addressing the New Brunswick legislature. The incident took place last month, but the video of it has now gone viral with people calling politicians brain-dead and lazy enough not to even proof-check their statements. Some blamed his team for not removing that sentence, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he might not have understood that the statement was a hallmark of AI writing.“Here’s a more natural, flowing version of that section that reads like a legislative speech rather than a series of short points,” Oliver said as he segued to the next part of his speech and read out the “flowing version”In the video, it is clear that the words did not strike him as AI words and he continued with his speech, remaining oblivious to the virality he was going to attain.
Rections to Bill Oliver’s AI statement
“If there are no consequences for this, then we hold our high schoolers to a higher standard than our elected officials,” one social media user wrote after Redditors flagged the oddity this week in his speech. “If he was a lawyer, he’d be sanctioned,” another wrote. “Why should it be any different for an elected representative?”Oliver’s office did not offer any clarification, apology, explanation on the viral video — on whether it was that one statement that was AI-written or his entire speech was written by AI.Last month, two lawyers were sanctioned by a US appeals court for filing documents with AI words. That same week, four lawyers from both sides of a Mississippi lawsuit were punished for a similar error, with all four slapped with fines and two barred from appearing at the US district court again for the next two years.