Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing everything from medicine to entertainment. It's even making a splash in Virginia politics.
"I've been proud to serve the people of the 8th District of Virginia for over a decade now..."
That is not the voice of Congressman Don Beyer, a Democrat from Alexandria. It's an AI simulation known as the DonBot.
"If necessity is the mother of invention, pettiness is the father," says Bentley Hensel, an independent candidate running against Beyer. He created the DonBot using the congressman's website and public statements. Last week, he and another independent candidate debated the DonBot on issues including gun violence, Medicare for all and raising the minimum wage.
"One of the things I did show here is that you can use AI responsibly and get pretty accurate answers, and I think, at least, I started a conversation," Hensel says.
In a written statement, Beyer said that he already participated in two debates. He also called himself a leading voice for regulating AI, adding that he would support legislation "to prevent nefarious actors from using AI to spread misinformation about elected officials during political campaigns.” Hensel disagrees...
"The cat's out of the bag with AI. You cannot regulate the models; you can't regulate the AI providers because DonBot is using open-source models."
Hensel says his next project will be POTUSGPT, allowing users to ask questions of presidential candidates.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
