Overview

• Path to Rebirth announced it will install an AI as its leader, with 25-year-old Kyoto University researcher Koki Okumura serving as assistant and acting head for now.
• Okumura said the figurehead will be a chatbot penguin avatar and confirmed there is no timeline yet, with a preparatory committee being set up.
• Electoral law requires a human representative, so the AI will front party operations while Okumura holds the formal role.
• Party statements describe the system handling operational decisions such as resource allocation, though specific technical, legal and oversight details remain undecided.
• The plan follows founder Shinji Ishimaru’s resignation after failed bids in Tokyo assembly and upper house races, and coverage situates the move within broader experiments with AI in politics.