Using AI as a Campaign Caller: Is it the Future of Politics?

Tuesday - January 2 2024, 02:15 UTC - 10 months ago

Pennsylvania congressional candidate Shamaine Daniels is the first in the world to use AI-powered interactive campaign calls customized to each recipient to reach voters. AI expert Wasim Khaled said the new technology is a double-edged sword, coming with ethical issues and concerns over misinformation. Ashley, an AI character developed for the campaign, has already made thousands of calls. AI technology is significant less expensive than human phone bankers, but no disclosure of how much it costs, and more Democratic and progressive candidates will be able to access the technology soon.

Pennsylvania congressional candidate Shamaine Daniels has a new campaign staffer named Ashley who has made thousands of calls to voters.

There's one catch: Ashley isn't a real person. Ashley is an artificial intelligence character, and the companies that developed her say Daniels' campaign is the first in the world to use AI-powered interactive campaign calls customized to each recipient. The robot's creators say they will soon offer the technology to more political candidates—a move that could shake up campaigning by streamlining voter outreach but would also bring concerns about the potential for ethical issues and misinformation.

Daniels, a Democrat and three-term Harrisburg City Council member, said the AI tool makes it easier for candidates who don't get large donations to do voter outreach. "It makes reaching voters much more affordable," she said. "It also makes you able to communicate with voters much earlier on in the process, as you're developing your policies, as you're thinking about issues." .

But using AI to contact voters is "a really, really double-edged sword," said AI expert Wasim Khaled, CEO and co-founder of Blackbird.AI, which helps companies protect themselves from artificial intelligence. Daniels is one of several Democratic primary candidates hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, who represents Central Pennsylvania's 10th District, in 2024. Perry, a leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus and a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, is seeking a seventh term. Daniels won the Democratic nomination but lost the general election to Perry in 2022.

Getting campaign calls from a robot .

After weeks of testing, Daniels' campaign began making AI calls to likely Democratic primary voters last weekend, her spokesperson Joe Bachman said. Ashley has already made thousands of calls, according to Ilya Mouzykantskii, the cofounder of Civox, which made the tool in partnership with Conversation Labs.

The robot can answer questions about Daniels' platform. It speaks multiple languages and discloses that it's an AI tool and that the call is being recorded. The calls can help recruit volunteers and get donations and feedback that can direct campaign messaging. If Ashley doesn't have the answer to a question, it gives an option for a real person to contact them, according to Daniels.

Daniels' campaign staffers can access transcripts of the conversations to identify common themes, Bachman said, and can read the conversations and reach out to the constituent afterward. Mouzykantskii said he expects to take on more Democratic and progressive candidates as clients soon. "At this point, we have far more demand than we have supply," Mouzykantskii said. Ashley was developed specifically for Daniels' campaign, and other campaigns will have their own characters.

While Daniels and the companies that created Ashley emphasized the affordability of the technology, neither would disclose how much the tool costs. "We are significantly less expensive than human-paid phone bankers and we are more expensive than making dumb robocalls," Mouzykantskii said.

Concerns over the use of AI as a campaign caller .

Dan Berger, CEO and co-founder of SocialChorus, a media and engagement platform for companies, said that campaigns using AI instead of humans should come with a warning label.