An international team, including Frédéric Boy (Swansea University, UK), Talita Greyling (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), and Stephanié Rossouw (Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand), has launched GNH.Today, the first AI-powered Gross National Happiness index. This tool provides daily snapshots of the UK's happiness, particularly during election periods.
Modern Approach to Measuring Happiness
Traditional methods of measuring national happiness, often based on periodic surveys, have become outdated in the fast-paced digital era. The GNH.Today project leverages AI and open-source data to offer near real-time, cost-effective insights into population well-being. Unlike traditional social media mining, this tool analyzes emotion-related keyword usage in search engines.
Validating AI Against Real-World Data
The GNH.Today index has been rigorously tested against data from the UK's Office of National Statistics, the Netherlands' Central Bureau for Statistics, and Twitter sentiment data from South Africa. This ensures the tool's accuracy and reliability.
Real-World Application During Elections
The AI-powered tool was tested during two significant elections: the South African General Election on May 29, 2024, and the British General Election on July 4, 2024. In the UK, the tool revealed fluctuations in national happiness corresponding to key campaign events, such as Conservative losses and Labour's manifesto announcements.
Significance of GNH.Today
GNH.Today is a novel tool that harnesses open-source data to transparently measure societal progress. It aims to support decision-makers, journalists, and humanitarian organizations in understanding and improving population well-being.
Figure 1: Evolution of the AI-powered GNH.Today Happiness Index in the United Kingdom from 1 May 2024 to 7/07/2024. The index uses a 0-10 scale, where 0 indicates extreme unhappiness, 5 represents a neutral state, and 10 signifies extreme happiness.
For more information, contact:
- Dr. Frédéric Boy: F.A.Boy@Swansea.ac.uk
- Prof. Talita Greyling: talitag@uj.ac.za
- Dr. Stephanié Rossouw: stephanie.rossouw@aut.ac.nz