Jakarta ¨C Fika Juliana Putri, a 19-year-old shopkeeper in East Jakarta, plans to vote in Indonesia¡¯s presidential election next week for a once-feared former special forces commander. She likes him, she says, because he¡¯s cuddly.
A doe-eyed cartoon version of former Gen. Prabowo Subianto ¡ª produced using generative artificial intelligence ¡ª is emblazoned on billboards across Indonesia. It¡¯s reproduced on sweatshirts and stickers, and featured prominently on #Prabowo-tagged posts that have some 19 billion views on TikTok.
Prabowo is Indonesia¡¯s defense minister. But on social media, his chubby-cheeked AI avatar makes Korean-style finger hearts and cradles his beloved cat, Bobby, to the delight of Gen Z voters. About half of Indonesia¡¯s 205 million voters are under 40.
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