Democrats try decoding AI campaign tools to keep up with GOP
President Joe Biden’s campaign and Democratic candidates are in a fevered race with Republicans over who can best exploit the potential of articial intelligence, a technology that could transform American elections — and perhaps threaten democracy itself.
Still smarting from being outmaneuvered on social media by Donald Trump and his allies in 2016, Democratic strategists said they are nevertheless treading carefully in embracing tools that trouble experts in disinformation. So far, Democrats said they are primarily using AI to help them nd and motivate voters and better identify and overcome deceptive content.
“Candidates and strategists are still trying to gure out how to use AI in their work. People know it can save them time — the most valuable resource a campaign has,” said Betsy Hoover, director of digital organising for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign and co-founder of the progressive venture capital rm Higher Ground Labs.
Campaigns in both parties for years have used AI
— powerful computer systems, software that emulate aspects of human work and cognition — to collect and analyse data. The recent developments in supercharged generative AI, however, have provided candidates and consultants with the ability to generate text and images, clone human voices and video at unprecedented volume and speed.
That has led disinformation experts to issue increasingly dire warnings about the risks posed by AI’s ability to spread falsehoods that could suppress or mislead voters, or incite violence, whether in the form of robocalls, social media posts or fake images and video.
Those concerns gained urgency after high-prole incidents that included the spread of AI-generated images of former President Donald Trump getting arrested in New York and an AI-created robocall that mimicked Biden’s voice telling New Hampshire voters not to cast a ballot.
The Biden administration has sought to shape AI regulation through executive action, but Democrats overwhelmingly agree Congress needs to pass legislation to install safeguards around the technology.
Top tech companies have taken some steps to quell unease in Washington by announcing a commitment to regulate themselves. Major AI players, for example, entered into a pact to combat the use of AI-generated deepfakes around the world. But some experts said the vocreate luntary eort is largely symbolic and congressional action is needed to prevent AI abuses.
Meanwhile, campaigns and their consultants have generally avoided talking about how they intend to use AI to avoid scrutiny and giving away trade secrets.
Scarred by the memories of 2016, the Biden campaign, Democratic candidates and progressives are wrestling with the power of articial intelligence and nervous about not keeping up with the GOP in embracing the technology, according to consultants and strategists.