GOP campaigns go all-in on AI — Dems not so much

• On the horizon: AI agents interacting with voters by phone to try to persuade them to vote for GOP candidates, one Republican operative tells us.

By contrast, Democratic operatives — many wary of privacy risks and worried what AI could mean for their jobs — have been much slower to adopt the technology in their campaigns.

• The party, with few exceptions, hasn't been using AI in ads.
• The Democratic National Committee has barred staffers from using ChatGPT and Claude, though it does allow them to use Gemini to code, analyze data and do other tasks.

A DNC official said Gemini is allowed under a new policy because it integrates well with the committee's existing tools. The official said the staff's AI usage has increased this year under the policy.

• "There are many Democrats who are using AI, but there's also a lot of skepticism," Democratic strategist Larry Huynh told Axios. "I don't see the same level of skepticism on the Republican side."
• A survey last month by the American Association of Political Consultants found that 64% of Republican consultants used AI daily in their work, compared to 49% of Democrats.

Zoom in: Aaru, a company that tries to predict human behavior, is among the tools Republicans are using.

• The platform can replicate pools of voters with AI agents. Those bots can then be polled on their views — such as what they think about a particular candidate, or how President Trump is handling an issue.
• Republicans who've used Aaru say it does a good job of designing what a universe of voters in a particular area looks like. And it's much faster and cheaper than traditional polling.
• It can also test the effectiveness of campaign ads by predicting how voters may respond to them.

Republicans also are using MiroFish, a platform that forecasts public opinion using simulated people.

• Campaign operatives can load in polling data and news stories and then ask it to predict how voters' actions might be affected by events — such as the Iran war concluding.

EyesOver, a program that scans millions of social media sites per day to identify real-time trends in public sentiment, also is rising in popularity,

• "It's crazy accurate at predicting trends," one GOP strategist said.

Zoom out: The White House's digital shop sets the tone for the GOP's aggressive approach, firing off AI-generated social media posts boosting Trump and blasting his critics.

• The National Republican Senatorial Committee is using AI to create ads, analyze data and identify new small donors, according to an NRSC spokesperson.
• Those ads include more than a half-dozen spots targeting Democrats — including a video game-themed ad blasting Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan.
• Republicans say the AI-generated ads are cheaper and easier to make than traditional commercials.

Yes, but: Some operatives warn there are risks in using AI to make ads, particularly if campaigns create deepfakes.

• They say most voters now can tell what's real and what's not — and that campaigns that manipulate reality to try to mislead voters risk a backlash.
• However provocative such ads might be, the operatives say, they could annoy voters who dismiss them as AI slop inundating their social media feeds — or worse, leave voters thinking those behind the ads are dishonest.

Mike Collins, a GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, released a deepfake ad in November depicting Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff expressing support for a government shutdown.

• "They say it'll hurt farmers, but I wouldn't know. I've only seen a farm on Instagram," Ossoff is portrayed as saying.
• But Ossoff never said that. His campaign called the ad an act of deception, adding, "Georgians don't take well to people who lie to them."
• Collins defended the ad, saying: "Our team is doing it just like the White House."