The year of the AI election that wasn't
technology that could make tens of thousands of personalized phone calls to voters using Diemer's talking points and sense of humor.
His campaign agreed to try out the technology. But it turned out that the only thing voters hated more than a robocall was an AI-backed one.
While Civox's AI program made almost 1,000 calls to voters in five minutes, nearly all of them hung up in the first few seconds when they heard a voice that described itself as an AI volunteer, Diemer said.
«People just didn't want to be on the phone, and they especially didn't want to be on the phone when they heard they were talking to an AI program,» said the entrepreneur, who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for the same seat he is seeking now. «Maybe people weren't ready yet for this type of technology.»
This was supposed to be the year of the AI election. Fueled by a proliferation of AI tools such as chatbots and image generators, more than 30 tech companies have offered AI products to national, state and local U.S. political campaigns in recent months. The companies — mostly smaller firms such as BHuman, VoterVoice and Poll the People — make products that reorganize voter rolls and campaign emails, expand robocalls and create AI-generated likenesses of candidates that can meet and greet constituents virtually.
But campaigns are largely not biting — and when they have, the technology has fallen flat. Only a handful of candidates are using AI, and even fewer are willing to admit it, according to interviews with 23 tech companies and seven
