Let ’s say you require to make a long - snapshot run for Congress as an freelance in a deeply Democratic district of Virginia , but the officeholder in the race wo n’t give you airtime to debate your respective chopine in front of voters . You could simply melt societal media ads promoting your candidacy , or perchance present your case through a YouTube telecasting in which you argue why you ’re a better selection . Maybe get in touch with the local newspaper to prove and get an interview ?
That ’s what Bentley Hensel intends to do in Virginia ’s 8th congressional district , where he ’s running as an independent contender against Don Beyer , who has brush off requests to do another disputation , state a September meeting place was sufficient . Beyer win the territory in 2022 by nearly two - thirds , so it ’s not hard to see why he would feel it better to just ignore his relatively unknown rival .
It may be surd for some to debar skepticism listening to a effigy of a existent person . But ChatGPT ’s Advanced Voice Mode is so unearthly in its power to verbalize in a natural and expressive direction that it ’s concentrated to even describe it from a real soul . And companies like Character.ai and Replika are wildly democratic for offering chatbots as configuration of companionship . It ’s not crazy to believe that voters , especially old ones , would be lulled into feeling they ’re watching a genuine debate .

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HenseltoldReutersthat DonBot , as the bot is called , is being trained using ChatGPT ’s API on Beyer ’s prescribed websites , military press releases , and data from the Federal Election Commission . The bot is intended to provide accurate answers , though that ’s not exactly reassuring to anyone who has actually used a chatbot before .
And sure enough , Reuterstested DonBot and found that although it for the most part provided straightforward solution to policy questions , it erred in enjoin Beyer has not endorsed anyone for president when he has in fact indorse Democratic prospect Kamala Harris . Still , having been trained on a narrow data bent , the bot is less likely to bring forth violent hallucination .
Beyer did not tellReuterswhether or not he ’ll take action to hold back the online public debate , conduct place on October 17 , but a interpreter told the electric outlet that Beyer“continues to be a leading vocalization in Congress on the need to meliorate artificial intelligence information regularisation , including legislation to foreclose nefarious worker from utilizing AI to spread election misinformation . ” So , it sounds like he ’s not exactly enthused .

sound expert who talk withReuterssaid that the usance of the bot is likely allowable so long as Hensel offers well-defined revelation that he ’s not actually speaking to the actual Don Beyer . For Hensel , the tending he ’s get from creating the bot alone has probably been worth a lot . It seems slippy , however , if older voters and others come to wrongly believe a bot that is likely fail to make some mistakes truly represent a candidate . We be intimate it ’s already easy enough for old generationsto declivity for AI - mother mental imagery .
At least 26 state have move to take action regularize the role of generative AI in communications around election , some going as far as to outright ban deepfakes of politician . At the federal level , there has been , unsurprisingly , minuscule movement .
Artificial intelligenceDeepfakes

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