The A.I. Evangelists on a Mission to Shake Up Japan

With a ponytail, an indigo suit and a black T-shirt covered in lines of computer code, Takahiro Anno stands out in the button-down halls of Japan’s government.

Mr. Anno, 35, a software engineer and lawmaker, leads Team Mirai, a political party founded by techies that showed surprising strength this month in national elections. The party came from nowhere to win an eye-popping 11 seats in the lower house of Japan’s Parliament by promoting government chatbots, self-driving buses and other Promethean new technologies.

“A.I. is like fire,” Mr. Anno, a member of Japan’s upper chamber, the House of Councilors, since last year, said in an interview last week at his office in Tokyo. “Everything will be changed.”

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping politics around the world, with officials turning to chatbots to help draft policies, and A.I.-generated misinformation spreading on a wide scale. In Britain, Denmark and elsewhere, A.I.-focused candidates and parties have started to appear on the ballot.

But few groups have had the success of Team Mirai (Team Future). Its leaders aim to use technology to make government more responsive and efficient — and to address issues like corruption and Japan’s acute labor shortage. They have said savings achieved through A.I. could be used to lower contributions to pension and health care plans for working-class families.

“Make slow politics fast,” said a campaign brochure. “Technology makes your life easier.”