The Dawn of Generative AI-Enabled Political Activism: How Kenyan Gen Z Used ChatGPT and Protest GPTs to Mobilize

Abstract

In June 2024, youth-led protests in Kenya against a controversial Finance Bill demonstrated the connection between digital technologies and political activism in the Global South. This study examines how generative artificial intelligence (GAI) shapes political participation by focusing on Kenyan Gen Z activists who used ChatGPT to create custom models: Finance_Bill_GPT, Corrupt_Politicians_GPT, and MPs_Contribution_GPT (collectively called Protest_GPT_KE). These tools simplified complex laws, exposed corruption, and mobilized young people online, allowing them to bypass traditional sources such as media and elites. However, using GAI for activism raises ethical and political concerns, including surveillance, data rights, and state repression. The study surveyed 374 Kenyan Gen Z participants, primarily in Nairobi, and used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the connections among AI use, tool appropriation, and political participation. Results show that ChatGPT use alone did not directly increase offline activism; its effect appeared when combined with Protest_GPT_KE and online participation. This study is one of the first to document how youth in the Global South are creatively using GAI for grassroots mobilization, demonstrating that GAI’s political influence depends on user innovation and context.

Keywords

artificial intelligence democracy civic engagement natural language processing (NLP)ChatGPT Global South

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