AI Platforms Train Bots to Hold Personalized Political Text Conversations with Voters

Npr reported that AI-powered platforms are training bots to sound like political candidates in text messages and hold personalized conversations with thousands of potential voters at once. The bots collect information on voter priorities and use it to refine future campaign messages. Aaron Sheeks, CEO of Akillion, said many current clients are running for office.

"Our goal is to put the microphone back in the hand of the voter," Sheeks said. " Eric Wilson, a Republican strategist and director of the Center for Campaign Innovation, said generative AI makes campaigns more interactive and helps them do more with less. In nearly all cases the first message is written by a human, with the AI responding once the voter engages, Wilson said.

Tom Carroll, CEO of Convos, an AI text platform launched last year, said the service guides bots to introduce themselves and ask a question. "What we're offering is the greatest volunteer you've ever had," Carroll said. Convos assisted 10 campaigns in its first year and aims to work with more than 100 in 2026, having reached roughly half that target so far.

Marty Santalucia, a partner at Vector Political, said bots have held conversations lasting hours. The firm sent 2.5 million texts this year and recorded 20,000 to 30,000 conversations. About 5 to 10 percent of recipients reply, and 10 to 20 percent of those exchange 10 or more messages, Santalucia said.

Josh Justice, CEO of Peerly, said every House and Senate campaign this year is expected to use text messaging. Campaigns in North Dakota and California must disclose virtual assistants in the first message, while New Jersey may soon require disclosure of generative AI use. Nathan Rifkin, co-CEO of Scale to Win, said risks such as false information outweigh benefits.