21st CENTURY HEADLINES: An AI bot for mayor? Wyoming election official says not so fast.

Can a bot powered by artificial intelligence run a city? Wyoming resident Victor Miller thinks so.

Miller, 42, filed paperwork for him and his customized ChatGPT bot, named Virtual Integrated Citizen or “Vic,” to run for mayor in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Miller — who filled out the candidate paperwork with his own information under the name Vic, which is also his nickname — said he planned to serve as a “meat avatar” for the bot. He’ll do the ribbon-cutting while the bot will handle the decision-making — if he advances out of the crowded nonpartisan mayoral primary in August and wins the November election.

But Miller’s bid has run into a speed bump: Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray said it is not legal.

“Wyoming law is very clear that AI is not eligible as a candidate for any office,” Gray, a Republican, said in a radio interview last week, noting that only eligible voters can run for office. “An AI bot is not a qualified elector.”

Sunol California’s former mayor, Bosco the Dog, is looking better all the time.

Related: Naturally, Old Blighty is fielding its own AI candidates in 2024: AI candidate running for Parliament in the U.K. says AI can humanize politics.

An artificial intelligence candidate is on the ballot for the United Kingdom’s general election next month.

“AI Steve,” represented by Sussex businessman Steve Endacott, will appear on the ballot alongside non-AI candidates running to represent constituents in the Brighton Pavilion area of Brighton and Hove, a city on England’s southern coast.

“AI Steve is the AI co-pilot,” Endacott said in an interview. “I’m the real politician going into Parliament, but I’m controlled by my co-pilot.”

Second look at the Monster Raving Loony Party?