AI 101 for Political Campaigns
Smart and ethical AI for political campaigns
TL;DR:
Democrats, it’s time to embrace AI on campaigns. We can show you how.
It won’t be hard to outrun MAGA on AI.
Early early adopters of AI are already seeing advantages.
You probably already know that even within the Democratic party, opinions on Artificial Intelligence and its uses at work are vast and loud. We won’t be able to cover all of its implications in one Substack post, and we’re all flying a little blind while there are no federal regulations that specifically address AI on political campaigns. And yet, there’s one thing we all have to get onboard with to stay competitive in an evolving political landscape: Democrats can’t afford to fall behind on AI while it all gets ironed out. It’s already clear that if we don’t learn how to use it well and soon, we will be left behind.
Let’s first break the ice with some deep unseriousness. The White House has been… experimenting with AI – and if you haven’t already seen, things are getting truly bizarre. Here are a couple of 100% real posts they’ve put up to their official accounts, featuring a game show-ified White House and a Super Man-ified Trump, also inexplicably surrounded by flying dollar bills.
Now that we’re all thoroughly weirded out, can we agree that if we can get on board with even just the basics of using AI on Democratic campaigns, we’d already be multiple steps ahead of the GOP? Great.
So let’s get to it. First and foremost, NDTC just launched an AI course in partnership with Higher Ground Institute and Cooperative Impact Lab that will train you on the essentials in terms of both ethics and strategy. It’s the best place to start if you’re unsure about AI’s role in modern campaigning – whether you’re a Democrat running for office, working on a political campaign, or volunteering to organize. You can enroll now and take it at your own pace, but we recommend getting started sooner rather than later as the game is rapidly changing.
There are multiple AI platforms emerging in popularity. You’ve probably heard of the big ones – ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude. But there are others – Chorus AI, Change Agent. Some are great for in-depth text analysis and processing large documents, while others are better for conversational use. What’s going to work for you? That’s the big question as we collectively wade through what’s been called “the messy middle” of AI innovation. Which is moving much faster, and changing the ground under our feet much faster than voicemail, email, or the cloud ever did.* And what we assess in our AI course.
But what does all of that mean in the context of a winning campaign? That’s the other big question in the political space. We’re already seeing early adopters of AI on campaigns gain a strategic edge to maximize fundraising messages, coordinate volunteers, and improve voter communications. For example, you could use AI to draft email templates tailored to different audiences, cutting down your time spent writing them manually. You can also use it to compile, summarize, parse, or analyze large data sets – voter data, cutting turf, door knocking addresses and zip codes – taking back hours of work that frees you up to focus on the bigger things that drive campaign success. Like fundraising, turning out the vote, and winning your campaign. This is just the start – our AI course contains a full guide on picking the right platform and maximizing it on your campaign.
Democrats in the 2024 elections started embracing AI with innovative tactics to reach target voters. NextGen America created an AI chatbot resembling Pixar's Wall-E that operated on Discord and Twitch streams hosted by Latino and Black gaming influencers, providing instant answers to election questions in battleground states. Of course, these approaches didn’t equate to large scale wins, and many posed new questions around the potential for disinformation and regulatory oversight. But we’re still at the beginning of this new phase of campaigning, and we have time to develop best practices and voter confidence. We want candidates at any stage in their campaign to have these tools, which is why our course prepares candidates to implement AI strategies right away.
Our 30,000 future candidates need AI training now to win in 2026 and beyond. And as AI becomes the standard in campaigns, Democrats need to be involved in its development to make sure it moves in a direction that works for us (i.e. more tactical tools and less disturbing instagram posts). Candidates who aren’t will be the modern equivalent of the last buggy driver after the Model T arrived, and at an avoidable disadvantage in our technological reality. So as our Director of Marketing and Communications often references, when it comes to AI, “kiss it, hug it, and call it George”.
Our AI course is open for enrollment now. As always, everything we offer is free, and it takes less than a minute to create a learner account and enroll. And of course, our website is always stockpiled with more career and campaign resources.
* Think about it: It took decades for email to completely end fax machines. It has taken AI two years to show up, upend, refine, redefine, and automate workflows at your desk. ChatGPT hit one million users five days after launch.
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