AI Chatbot "DonBot" Created to Stand In for Congressman in Virginia Debate

Congressman Refuses to Debate, so His Opponent Is Using an AI Stand-In

Sitting congressman Don Beyer won’t bother debating Bentley Hensel, a long-shot independent candidate, so Hensel made an AI version of Beyer to debate instead. Let’s say you want to make a long-shot run for Congress as an independent in a deeply Democratic district of Virginia, but the incumbent in the race won’t give you airtime to debate your platform in front of voters. You could simply run social media ads promoting your candidacy, or maybe present your case through a YouTube video in which you comment on the incumbent’s platform. Maybe contact the local newspaper to try and get an interview? Or you could just use generative AI that's been trained on the incumbent's backlog of public comments and published material. That’s what Bentley Hensel intends to do in Virginia’s 8th congressional district, where he’s running as an independent challenger against Don Beyer, who has brushed off requests to do another debate, saying a September forum was sufficient. Beyer won the district in 2022 by nearly two-thirds, so why bother debating Hensel, a no-name software engineer who is, again, running as an independent? It may be hard for some to suspend disbelief listening to a simulacrum of a real person. ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode is so uncanny in its ability to speak in a natural and expressive way that it’s hard to even distinguish it from a real person. And companies like Character.ai and Replika are wildly popular for offering chatbots as forms of companionship. It’s not crazy to believe that voters, especially older ones, would be lulled into feeling they're watching a genuine debate. Hensley told Reuters that DonBot, as the bot is called, is being trained using ChatGPT’s API on Beyer’s official websites, 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, Reuters tested DonBot and found that although it largely provided straightforward answers to policy questions, it erred in saying Beyer has not endorsed anyone for president when he has in fact endorsed Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Still, having been trained on a narrow data set, the bot is unlikely to produce wild hallucinations. Beyer did not tell Reuters whether or not he’ll take action to stop the online debate, taking place on October 17, but a spokesperson told the outlet that Beyer "continues to be a leading voice in Congress on the need to improve artificial intelligence regulation, including legislation to prevent nefarious actors from utilizing AI to spread election misinformation." So, it sounds like he’s not exactly enthused. Legal experts who spoke with Reuters said that the use of the bot is likely permissible so long as Hensel offers clear disclosure that he’s not actually speaking to the real Don Beyer. For Hensel, the attention he's getting from creating the bot alone has probably been worth a lot. It seems slippery, however, if older voters and others come to wrongly believe a bot that is likely going to make some mistakes genuinely represents a candidate. We know it's already easy enough for older generations to fall for AI-generated imagery. At least 26 states have moved to take action regulating the use of generative AI in communications around elections, some going as far as to outright ban deepfakes of politicians. At the federal level, there has been, unsurprisingly, little movement. Â

Exclusive-Virginia Congressional Candidate Creates AI Chatbot as Debate Stand-In for Incumbent

(Reuters) - A long-shot congressional challenger in Virginia is so determined to debate the Democratic incumbent one more time that he created an AI chatbot to stand in for the candidate in case he's a no-show. Less than a month from election day, the race for Virginia's 8th congressional district is all but decided. The sitting congressman in this deeply Democratic district, Don Beyer, won handily in 2022 with nearly three-quarters of the vote. Bentley Hensel, a software engineer for good government group CivicActions, who is running as an independent, said he was frustrated by what he said was Beyer's refusal to appear for additional debates since September. So he hatched a unique plan that will test the bounds of both propriety and technology: a debate with Beyer's artificial intelligence likeness. And the candidate has created the AI chatbot himself - without Beyer's permission. Call it the modern-day equivalent of the empty chair on stage. DonBot, as the AI is playfully known, is being trained on Beyer's official websites, press releases, and data from the Federal Election Commission. The text-based AI is based on an API from OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. The bot is not intended to mislead anyone and is trained to provide accurate answers, said Hensel, who has raised roughly $17,000 in outside contributions and personal loans to his campaign, compared to Beyer's $1.5 million fund. "Don Beyer understands the best strategy is to avoid any public appearances, but the voters of this district deserve to hear from him and all the candidates on the issues." The debate, slated to stream October 17 online, will pit Hensel and David Kennedy, another independent, against DonBot. Republican Jerry Torres, who has raised about $30,000 for the race, did not respond to several emails or phone calls. A Beyer spokeswoman said he had appeared at a September forum with the other three candidates and did not plan to participate in the October debate. She did not say if the campaign planned to take any other action. She said he "continues to be a leading voice in Congress on the need to improve artificial intelligence regulation, including legislation to prevent nefarious actors from utilizing AI to spread election misinformation." Should Torres also not participate, Hensel plans to create an AI version of him as well, according to an invitation to all the candidates seen by Reuters. Hensel and Kennedy acknowledge the use of AI is in part a last-ditch effort to bring some attention to an otherwise predictable campaign. Hensel said he was also motivated by a desire for greater transparency. The debate will be a test of a still new technology that can instantaneously craft full-fledged text, video and audio responses to simple prompts. Amid an investing frenzy in AI - OpenAI this month said it raised $6.6 billion - some technologists fret the software could become sentient and lead to world-ending disasters, while others worry convincing deep fakes of celebrities or politicians could damage reputations and help the dissemination of political disinformation. Already, AI has been used to create a voice resembling President Joe Biden's to make robocalls in New Hampshire encouraging voters not to cast their ballots in the state's January primary. Former president Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of pop star Taylor Swift endorsing his campaign. Hensel gave Reuters an exclusive preview of DonBot, also known as CandidateGPT, and the software generally gave straightforward answers to questions of policy, often citing Beyer's website as the source. Asked by Reuters about gun control, DonBot responded, "we are beyond a crisis point with guns in America" and that "halting gun violence has been a major focus of my work." To another query, the software said "I firmly support a woman's right to choose," part of a five sentence response pointing to legislation Beyer has endorsed. The software, in limited testing, did not succumb to oddball suggestions or questions with made up facts or statistics, known in AI circles as hallucinations. Noting that it was using inference, rather than Beyer's own words, DonBot rejected the notion that the U.S. bomb Nebraska, for example: "Bombing any part of our own country is completely unacceptable." It refused to endorse Trump for president, saying "I have consistently opposed the previous president's policies and approach." It said it has not officially endorsed anyone for president. At least 26 states are considering or have passed rules that would regulate the use of generative AI in communications around elections, including greater disclosure and the outright banning of deepfakes of politicians. But federal regulators have failed to advance broad legislation on AI in time for this year's elections. Three Virginia attorneys and an election watchdog told Reuters that Beyer likely would have little recourse to prevent the debate from taking place, if he tried, provided his likeness is not being used for commercial purposes and it is not used to deceive voters by appearing like him. "They need to be very clear that it is an AI and that it's based on the candidate's own words," said Danielle Citron, a University of Virginia law professor. She said a Virginia ban on deepfakes applies narrowly to sexual content. Beyer's spokeswoman didn't address whether his campaign would try to prevent the debate from happening beyond saying he had no plans to participate. Virginia's state election board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kennedy, a senior fellow at the Council on Governmental Relations who has raised about $13,000 in contributions and personal loans, said he had agreed to the AI debate because of the "non-competitiveness" of the race and a hope that it would compel Beyer to appear. Beyer's spokeswoman said he attended a forum with Kennedy on Monday. The online debate is being sponsored by a non-profit called The True Representation Movement, which backs congressional candidates who commit to voting on bills based on feedback from a group of 1,000 anonymous voters representing various viewpoints. "I am not naïve about what's going to happen in November," said Hensel, referring to Beyer's considerable lead in the polls. "But I believe strongly in greater transparency." (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; editing by Kenneth Li and Claudia Parsons)

Exclusive-Virginia congressional candidate creates AI chatbot as debate stand-in for incumbent

(Reuters) - A long-shot congressional challenger in Virginia is so determined to debate the Democratic incumbent one more time that he created an AI chatbot to stand in for the candidate in case he's a no-show. Less than a month from election day, the race for Virginia's 8th congressional district is all but decided. The sitting congressman in this deeply Democratic district, Don Beyer, won handily in 2022 with nearly three-quarters of the vote. Bentley Hensel, a software engineer for good government group CivicActions, who is running as an independent, said he was frustrated by what he said was Beyer's refusal to appear for additional debates since September. So he hatched a unique plan that will test the bounds of both propriety and technology: a debate with Beyer's artificial intelligence likeness. And the candidate has created the AI chatbot himself - without Beyer's permission. Call it the modern-day equivalent of the empty chair on stage. DonBot, as the AI is playfully known, is being trained on Beyer's official websites, press releases, and data from the Federal Election Commission. The text-based AI is based on an API from OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. The bot is not intended to mislead anyone and is trained to provide accurate answers, said Hensel, who has raised roughly $17,000 in outside contributions and personal loans to his campaign, compared to Beyer's $1.5 million fund. "Don Beyer understands the best strategy is to avoid any public appearances, but the voters of this district deserve to hear from him and all the candidates on the issues." The debate, slated to stream October 17 online, will pit Hensel and David Kennedy, another independent, against DonBot. Republican Jerry Torres, who has raised about $30,000 for the race, did not respond to several emails or phone calls. A Beyer spokeswoman said he had appeared at a September forum with the other three candidates and did not plan to participate in the October debate. She did not say if the campaign planned to take any other action. She said he "continues to be a leading voice in Congress on the need to improve artificial intelligence regulation, including legislation to prevent nefarious actors from utilizing AI to spread election misinformation." Should Torres also not participate, Hensel plans to create an AI version of him as well, according to an invitation to all the candidates seen by Reuters. Hensel and Kennedy acknowledge the use of AI is in part a last-ditch effort to bring some attention to an otherwise predictable campaign. Hensel said he was also motivated by a desire for greater transparency. The debate will be a test of a still new technology that can instantaneously craft full-fledged text, video and audio responses to simple prompts. Amid an investing frenzy in AI - OpenAI this month said it raised $6.6 billion - some technologists fret the software could become sentient and lead to world-ending disasters, while others worry convincing deep fakes of celebrities or politicians could damage reputations and help the dissemination of political disinformation. Already, AI has been used to create a voice resembling President Joe Biden's to make robocalls in New Hampshire encouraging voters not to cast their ballots in the state's January primary. Former president Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of pop star Taylor Swift endorsing his campaign. Hensel gave Reuters an exclusive preview of DonBot, also known as CandidateGPT, and the software generally gave straightforward answers to questions of policy, often citing Beyer's website as the source. Asked by Reuters about gun control, DonBot responded, "we are beyond a crisis point with guns in America" and that "halting gun violence has been a major focus of my work." To another query, the software said "I firmly support a woman's right to choose," part of a five sentence response pointing to legislation Beyer has endorsed. The software, in limited testing, did not succumb to oddball suggestions or questions with made up facts or statistics, known in AI circles as hallucinations. Noting that it was using inference, rather than Beyer's own words, DonBot rejected the notion that the U.S. bomb Nebraska, for example: "Bombing any part of our own country is completely unacceptable." It refused to endorse Trump for president, saying "I have consistently opposed the previous president's policies and approach." It said it has not officially endorsed anyone for president. At least 26 states are considering or have passed rules that would regulate the use of generative AI in communications around elections, including greater disclosure and the outright banning of deepfakes of politicians. But federal regulators have failed to advance broad legislation on AI in time for this year's elections. Three Virginia attorneys and an election watchdog told Reuters that Beyer likely would have little recourse to prevent the debate from taking place, if he tried, provided his likeness is not being used for commercial purposes and it is not used to deceive voters by appearing like him. "They need to be very clear that it is an AI and that it's based on the candidate's own words," said Danielle Citron, a University of Virginia law professor. She said a Virginia ban on deepfakes applies narrowly to sexual content. Beyer's spokeswoman didn't address whether his campaign would try to prevent the debate from happening beyond saying he had no plans to participate. Virginia's state election board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kennedy, a senior fellow at the Council on Governmental Relations who has raised about $13,000 in contributions and personal loans, said he had agreed to the AI debate because of the "non-competitiveness" of the race and a hope that it would compel Beyer to appear. Beyer's spokeswoman said he attended a forum with Kennedy on Monday. The online debate is being sponsored by a non-profit called The True Representation Movement, which backs congressional candidates who commit to voting on bills based on feedback from a group of 1,000 anonymous voters representing various viewpoints. "I am not naïve about what's going to happen in November," said Hensel, referring to Beyer's considerable lead in the polls. "But I believe strongly in greater transparency." (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; editing by Kenneth Li and Claudia Parsons)

Generative AI trained on congressman statements for debate

Hallucinations, made-up facts... and that's just the human politicians Generative AI has reached its logical conclusion with a chatbot ready to stand in for a congressional incumbent at a debate. Dubbed "DonBot," the chatbot is the brainchild of Bentley Hensel, a software engineer running for US Congress as an independent candidate. Bentley aims to "bring technological innovation and transparency to the federal government," but the Democratic incumbent, Don Beyer, is apparently not interested in appearing in further debates. Hensel's solution, rather than the traditional empty chair approach, where candidates would pretend to debate the absent incumbent, is to train a generative AI on Beyer's press releases, website, and so on. The chatbot, a text-based AI running on an OpenAI API, would therefore have an "understanding" of what Beyer might say in a debate. Hensel is all about transparency and technical innovation - hence the publicizing of DonBot. Despite transparency not being the first word that springs to mind when considering OpenAI, the code behind DonBot (or CandidateGPT) can be looked at on GitHub and is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. A spokesperson for the Hensel for Congress campaign told The Register that the chatbot was "designed to provide straightforward, factual responses based solely on publicly available data from Beyer's official sources." Not at all like a real politician, judging by some recent performances. The spokesperson continued: "While leveraging OpenAI's API as the underlying technology, Bentley has taken measures to minimize AI 'hallucinations' by grounding responses strictly in the dataset derived from Beyer's materials." The system runs locally on Dell r730s in Bentley's home lab, uses a PostgreSQL database for a back end, and is written in Python, "though due for a refactor." We were given access to the chatbot and, in our admittedly unscientific experimentation, found it gave very clear and factual information on Beyer's policies without resorting to made-up facts and statistics. It also gave us a lengthy spiel on DonBot's appreciation for cheese and local cheese producers when we asked: "Do you like cheese?" Using the no inference option resulted in a terse "The provided information does not mention my personal preferences regarding cheese." The spokesperson said: "If Beyer, or any other candidate, does not attend the debate, they will be given an opportunity to review and revise any content used to generate DonBot's responses." Hensel told The Register: "There's a lot I still want to improve, but time is definitely limited. If all the stars align, I hope to roll out a candidate comparison feature where users can ask questions, and all the AI candidates in the race will respond. "That's still dependent on bandwidth, but once it's done, I'd love to spin up a version for Harris vs. Trump as well." Concerns over the use of AI technologies anywhere from social media to political discourse have reached fever pitch. Earlier this year, a political consultant was fined $6 million for bogus robocalls that used AI-generated voice cloning technology to impersonate US President Joe Biden. In April, Microsoft warned that the results of elections might be influenced by malicious actors armed with AI tools. However, Clint Watts, general manager of Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center, added that the deception and misinformation might not be as sophisticated as feared. Beyer did not immediately respond to The Register's questions, but even the possibility of replacing a politician with an AI does seem to hint that the rise of the machines might occur sooner than expected. Unless, of course, a hallucination results in Congress calling for sanctions on cheese rather than a foreign power. ®