AI-Based Bot Detects Politicians Distracted by Phone, Posts Photo on Twitter and Asks Them to Focus

The software searches for phones and then look for distracted politicians during livestreams of parliamentary sessions.  

Advertisement
By Edited by Gadgets 360 Newsdesk | Updated: 6 July 2021 16:34 IST
Highlights
  • The Flemish Scrollers taps into livestreams of parliamentary sessions
  • It has already trolled several Belgian politicians on Twitter
  • The Flemish Scrollers was writted in Python
AI-Based Bot Detects Politicians Distracted by Phone, Posts Photo on Twitter and Asks Them to Focus

The Flemish Scrollers detects politicians and shows the extent of their phone usage

Photo Credit: Twitter/ @FlemishScroller

We have often seen politicians busy staring at their phones or tablets even when an important debate or a discussion over a proposed law is underway. The issue is, of course, not confined to any specific country's political representatives. Interestingly, now there's a software that keeps a check on politicians with such behaviour. The tool, called 'The Flemish Scrollers,' detects politicians in the Flemish province of Belgium when they get distracted and start using phones during proceedings, which are livestreamed. Not only does it detect them with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) but also posts results on Twitter. It even tags political representatives that it finds distracted due to phones and other gadgets.

How does it work?

Written in Python, the software uses machine learning (ML) to detect phones and facial recognition to identify distracted politicians. Every government meeting in Belgium are livestreamed on YouTube. Once the livestream starts, the software searches for phones and then the distracted politicians. The software then posts the video of such politicians on Twitter and tags them. 

The Twitter bio of The Flemish Scrollers (@FlemishScroller) explains simply, "Automatically tagging distracted Belgian politician when they use their phone on the daily livestreams. This with the help of AI."

Advertisement

Here, for example, Peter Van Rompuy, a member of the Senate of Belgium, was seen scrolling through his phone. The software picked the footage, posted it on Twitter, tagged the politician and asked him to "focus."

Another Belgian politician Bart Somers was using his phone while the parliamentary proceedings were underway. The software did its job again. 

Advertisement

On July 5, Dries Depoorter, who is also the creator of the software, tweeted about it and his idea seemed to have found acceptance among the people. 

Twitter user @viraljetani, for instance, even asked the creator to make it "open sources" so that it could be used across countries. 

Advertisement

Here are some more reactions:

User @rintoprie wanted a slightly more evolved version of this software.

And since the world is attending meetings over Zoom these days, user @flashman wondered if The Flemish Scrollers would soon make its way to our online meetings. 

The Flemish Scrollers was released on July 5.

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Vivo X200 FE Launched in India With 6,500mAh Battery, Compact Design
  2. Up to 70 Percent Discount on Headphones During Amazon Prime Day Sale 2025
  3. Samsung Galaxy S25 FE Key Specifications Leaked: All Details
  4. Samsung Galaxy F36 5G to Launch Soon in India: Details
  5. Nothing Phone 3 and Headphone 1 to Go on Sale in India From Today
  6. OnePlus 13 Series Gets AI-Powered Plus Mind Feature With Latest Update
  7. Google to Integrate ChromeOS and Android into a Single Platform: Report
  8. Realme 15 Pro 5G Display, Battery Details Confirmed Ahead of India Launch
  9. Samsung Galaxy S26+ or Galaxy S26 Edge May Get Improved Ultrawide Camera
  10. iPhone 17 Series Lens Protection Covers Leak, Hinting at These Colourways
  1. Nothing Phone 3 and Headphone 1 Sale in India Begins Today: Price, Offers
  2. OnePlus 13 Series Update Brings Plus Mind Feature for Quickly Storing Information in Mind Space
  3. Earth’s Spin to Speed Up Briefly, Causing Shorter Days This Summer
  4. James Webb Telescope Spots Rare ‘Cosmic Owl’ Formed by Colliding Galaxies
  5. MIT Develops Low-Resource AI System to Control Soft Robots with Just One Image
  6. Ax-4 Astronauts to Return from ISS with 580 Pounds of Science Cargo
  7. NASA’s Mars Sample Return Mission May Survive with Lockheed Martin’s Low-Cost Proposal
  8. Oru Yemanin Kadhal Kadhai Now Streaming on Aha Tamil: What You Need to Know
  9. Google to Integrate ChromeOS and Android into a Single Platform: Report
  10. OpenAI Says Its Open-Source Reasoning AI Model Is Delayed Indefinitely
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.