Debate 2024: Kamala Harris Camp reacts to AI Trump proposal

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign team has taken up speculation about using artificial intelligence to prepare for debates against former President Donald Trump.

The Harris-Walz team confirmed to Semafor.com that it would not use an AI-generated version of Trump to prepare for the debate, opting instead for traditional human proxies.

This clarification comes in the wake of revelations that technology companies have been actively promoting AI-related products for political campaigns across the country. According to a New York Times Podcast, one such company approached the Biden campaign with a proposal to create an AI version of Trump for debate practice.

“One of the companies I spoke to had actually suggested to the Biden campaign that they create an AI version of Trump and have Biden practice debates with him so he would be ready for the debates,” the podcast host reported.

What would an AI-generated version of a political figure look like? One example is Vic, or Virtual Integrated Citizen, a custom ChatGPT bot created by Victor Miller, a mayoral candidate for Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Miller had applied for himself and the chatbot to be joint candidates. But in the final tally of 11,036 votes, Vic and Victor received only 327 votes.

When it comes to using AI to prepare for debates, the Harris campaign team is taking a cautious approach. “Currently, the only use of generative AI approved in the campaign is in productivity tools such as data analytics and industry-standard coding assistants,” Harris-Walz spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg told Semafor.

This cautious approach is consistent with the findings of a recent report by the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin. The study, Political Machines: The Role of Generative AI in the 2024 US Elections and Beyondpoints out that while AI has accelerated data analysis and content creation in political marketing, many campaigns remain skeptical of its more advanced applications.

However, the report also points out that some politicians see the potential of AI to improve targeted messaging and fundraising efforts.

“Currently, many people don’t even do A/B testing on subject lines because by the time the A/B test results come in, the topic is no longer relevant,” said a political AI provider interviewed for the study.

A/B testing involves comparing multiple examples of a single variable. For example, comparing a person’s response to variation A with that to variation B to find out which is more effective: A or B.

Despite the Harris campaign’s current stance, experts expect increasing interest in AI tools as the election season progresses.

“I expect that over the course of the summer, some of these new AI policy companies that have been founded in the last six months will go to the Kamala campaign and see if she wants to work with them,” predicted the New York Times Podcasts.