Israeli Start-Up AI Tool Deployed to Boost Turnout in Upcoming Knesset Elections

A grassroots initiative named "Kol Kol" is mobilizing tens of thousands of volunteers across Israel just days before the 26th Knesset elections, utilizing an advanced artificial intelligence platform developed by the Israeli-American startup PolaAI. The project aims to boost voter turnout among opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to the project organizers, more than 25,000 volunteers—both Jewish and Arab—have been recruited, organized under some 2,000 cluster managers operating in neighborhoods nationwide. The effort relies on a technological system built by PolaAI, which merges electoral data with public social media discourse to assess voters' political leaning and likelihood to cast a ballot. The organizers stated that the system recently withstood a 26-hour cyberattack that temporarily knocked it offline.

The initiative's strategy stems from an analysis of past election data, specifically the 25th Knesset elections. Organizers claim that over a million voters identified with the anti-netanyahu bloc stayed home, pointing to a discrepancy in voter turnout: 82 percent in polling stations associated with the coalition versus 73 percent in areas aligned with the change bloc. The system leverages PolaAI's data-mining engine, led by co-founder and CEO Tomer Mintz, co-founder and CTO Oded Shushan, and campaign director Avia Sharon, with backing from prominent investors including Dov Moran and Gigi Levy.

While the technology has previously been deployed in U.S. political campaigns, its deployment in Israel has drawn scrutiny regarding voter privacy and the reliability of political profiling. Organizers maintain that the project operates strictly within the law, funded by public donations and overseen by the State Comptroller, while emphasizing that their sole mission is to close the turnout gap before election day.