an artificial intelligence calls thousands of voters on the phone to promote a candidate in the campaign

Civox, a start-up based in San Francisco and London, has developed an AI that can participate in an electoral campaign for a candidate. The name of this entity is Ashley. She has already called thousands of voters in Pennsylvania on the phone.

During electoral campaigns, volunteers are essential to obtain votes. They do a sometimes thankless job, that of contacting voters who are not necessarily interested, with a view to influencing them, and they encounter a lot of refusals. A start-up, based in San Francisco and London, created Ashley, an entity capable of carrying out this difficult work. The creators are a pair, a financial tech specialist and an engineer who has already developed an autonomous car.

The company, Civox, first offered its services to Shamaine Daniels, a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives, the equivalent of our National Assembly. She is opposed to Scott Perry, a Republican who is the subject of an investigation concerning his role in the insurrection of January 6, 2021. She had lost by 8 points, during the previous election in 2022, in a district of Pennsylvania , near New York. However, this district is important because it is not fundamentally red or blue, so winning it would help Democrats regain the majority in the House. Daniels found the proposition of using Ashley attractive, especially since she does not have the financial means of her opponent.

In-depth knowledge of files

Ashley therefore calls voters, one by one, to tell them about Shamaine Daniels’ program, to convince them to participate financially in her campaign and to encourage them to vote for her. She presents herself on the phone as an artificial intelligence dedicated to Daniels’ campaign. Her voice deliberately kept a robotic aspect, so that it would not be confused with a human. Unlike an automated call, whose responses are recorded, it is able to react to questions asked and interact with the person on the phone. In addition, unlike a human volunteer who does not necessarily know the candidate’s entire program, Ashley has in-depth knowledge of the files. This is a major advantage, as is its ability to communicate in 20 languages.

But if we programmed her in this way, Ashley would also be able to lie about the candidate’s opponent. Only the good faith of its creators and the candidate’s team prevents this for the moment. Legally, there is – in Pennsylvania at least – nothing planned for new technology like this.

While waiting for a law to prevent abuse

The creators of Civox, who only want to work with moderate Democrats or Republicans, are calling for regulation to avoid abuse and disinformation. Recently, a group supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a candidate in the Republican primary, falsified Donald Trump’s voice in a commercial. But a law will probably not have time to be written and passed by the November 2024 elections.

Civox assures Reuters that Ashley has been trained to stick to the facts anyway. The Politico site was able to test the AI. She kicked in, or switched the call to a human volunteer, when the questions invited her to give her opinion.