Ace Parsi describes himself as "personally pretty against AI."
asserted
Parsi → describe → AI
The Democrat is running an uphill race against Republican Rep. Riley Moore in ruby-red West Virginia and has drafted a legislative proposal to block new data centers that don't have buy-in from constituents.
asserted
that → run → constituents
But after what he said was probably the most complicated decision of his campaign, Parsi and his team are using AI chatbots to text voters ahead of November's election.
asserted
Parsi → say → election
"We center so much of our conversation on making sure that people feel seen and listened to, and so we thought, 'OK, well, this is another tool to be able to do that,'" Parsi told CBS News.
asserted
Parsi → center → News
Parsi's is one of a growing number of campaigns that are experimenting this midterm cycle with a new kind of voter canvassing: AI-powered text conversations that let campaigns talk with far more voters than staff and volunteers can reach on the ground.
asserted
staff → grow → ground
These AI agents are powered by large language models, or LLMs — the same kind of tech behind Claude, Gemini or ChatGPT — loaded with campaign-approved material and instructed in how to engage voters.
asserted
agents → power → voters
They can hold thousands of conversations in a single day, recording what voters care about and, in some cases, trying to change their minds.
asserted
voters → hold → minds
Early research suggests the approach can work.
uncertain
approach → suggest → ?
One recent study in the journal Nature found that short conversations with AI chatbots in controlled experiments shifted voters' views more than political ads typically do.
asserted
ads → find → views
But the technology is moving faster than the rules around it.
asserted
technology → move → it
Another study published in the journal Science found that the harder chatbots push, the less accurate their claims become.
uncertain
claims → publish → journal
Campaigns can receive full transcripts of voters' conversations, raising new kinds of privacy questions.
asserted
Campaigns → receive → questions
And in most states, there's no requirement to tell voters they're texting with AI.
asserted
they → be → AI
Katie Harbath, CEO of the technology-focused political consulting firm Anchor Change, previously worked in Republican politics and at Facebook.
asserted
Harbath → focus → Facebook
She said she gets the sense from campaigns that they're "still very much in the experimental stage" with the technology.
asserted
they → say → technology
But it is happening.
asserted
it → happen → ?
Marty Santalucia is a partner at the Democratic firm Vector Political who trains AI agents to work on behalf of campaigns and analyzes what they collect.
asserted
they → train → what
He said the firm has sent over 3 million text messages this cycle, leading to over 35,000 individual conversations with voters.
asserted
firm → say → voters
"What we found really incredibly is that people engage," Santalucia said.
asserted
Santalucia → find → What
"The individual campaign staffer and the individual campaign is going to have the capacity to know their district, their state, their precinct, better than they have ever been able to previously know that area and the people there.
asserted
they → go → area
And that has a very democratizing power, I believe.
asserted
I → have → power
Taken together, the use of AI-driven chatbots represents a new kind of political tool: one that can hold conversations with voters at a scale no campaign has had before, but with the same kind of accuracy and privacy concerns that have defined the rise of AI use elsewhere.
asserted
that → take → use
How it works
Campaigns typically supply vendors with material they want the AI agent to pull from, rather than letting it draw on the open web, to reduce the chances of a conversation going off the rails.
asserted
conversation → work → rails
"The campaign comes to us and loads in the knowledge base," said Tom Carroll, founder of Convos.ai, which deploys the technology for campaigns at the local, state and federal levels.
asserted
which → come → levels
"Everything that's on their website, speeches, press releases, anything that they want the agent to know, and then our agent will only ever discuss that information."
asserted
agent → want → information
Carroll said Convos sometimes works directly with campaigns and sometimes with firms like Santalucia's Vector, which offer a more tailored, "white-glove" service.
asserted
which → say → service
Vector shapes its agents to behave like a trained canvasser.
asserted
Vector → shape → canvasser
"What we basically have done is we've trained an AI to deep canvass," Santalucia said, referring to a technique built on extended, empathetic listening.
asserted
Santalucia → do → listening
"And we've done extensive research on behavioral psychology and deep canvassing techniques and trained an AI to be really good at them.
asserted
we → do → them
And what the end result there is, it's incredibly good at centering people, so it's very good at listening, which makes us very good at listening."
asserted
us → be → listening
He added: "And then also we can implement it in a persuasive manner where it will listen and then do a really good job of relating that person's personal experiences which they then share to the campaign or cause that the agent is working on behalf of."
asserted
agent → add → behalf
The process begins when an agent reaches out to each voter by sending a text.
asserted
agent → begin → text
From there, voters can choose to engage or not.
asserted
voters → choose → ?
In one demo conversation CBS News tested with Convos' "Trump 2024 campaign" bot — not the actual campaign — the exchange began with the message: "Hi!
asserted
exchange → test → message
Let me know if you have questions about our stance on any issues leading up to election night this November.
asserted
you → let → night
If you'd like to opt out of texts, just send STOP and I'll take you off our list."
asserted
I → like → list
In another demo, CBS News asked if the respondent on the other end was a campaign worker.
asserted
respondent → ask → end
"I'm a digital assistant created to help share information from the Trump 2024 campaign," the AI agent responded.
asserted
agent → create → campaign
Often, the agent's response is delayed while the system digests the person's response.
asserted
system → delay → response
Santalucia's company, for instance, uses another bot to double-check the texting agent's answer as an additional safeguard against incorrect information.
asserted
company → use → information
…and 129 more, not listed.
The Aporia
