The Humanoid Question: Will Political Campaigns Use AI for Direct Voter Contact?

Directly speaking with and engaging voters is fundamental to any successful campaign. However, running a voter contact program at-scale requires time, money, and oftentimes volunteers. 

New developments in artificial intelligence claim to have found a solution to this problem. In a non-political application, one company developing this service claims it allows an organization to ‘unleash an army of cold callers.’ In politics, at least one firm has gone public with this technology and at least one Congressional campaign is using this tool.

This development would allow campaigns, PACs, and political organizations to execute massive — and cheap — outbound call campaigns to reach and identify potential supporters, donors, and activate volunteers. 

But should they? Entirely different questions with somewhat uncertain futures.

At Campaign Brain, we have developed guidelines for acceptable AI use in politics — which includes not misleading voters — and thus do not endorse or support the use of machines to directly execute direct voter contact.

While, so far, organizations such as the American Association of Political Consultants have been more hesitant for AI use in politics, campaigns and organizations haven’t followed suit. Thus, it is likely to be only a matter of time until the use of AI cold callers is everywhere in society, including campaigns.

So then what? Each cycle, campaigns and political parties have millions of calls with voters and supporters that are integral to their success. 

Phone answering rates are already in decline and have been for 20 years, and an influx of cold calls — whether by humans or a machine indistinguishable from a human — is unlikely to help this rate rise. 

For voter contact, there is a viable alternative: knock on the door of voters and speak to them face-to-face. For volunteer recruitment cold calls and raising money over the phone through a crucial process known as call time, using the phone is a critical tool. 

Consequently, campaigns may further invest in knocking doors and prioritizing face-to-face conversations.

That is, until humanoid robotics complicate face-to-face conversations, too.

At Campaign Brain, we’re working on responsibly democratizing artificial intelligence for progressive political campaigns. To learn more about integrating AI into your campaign, visit us at campaignbrain.ai.