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AI-powered platforms are training bots to sound like political candidates in text messages, holding personalized conversations with thousands of potential voters simultaneously. The bots are also gathering data, learning what each voter wants from their representatives and using that information to shape future campaign messaging.

Aaron Sheeks, the CEO of Akillion, an AI platform that lets people run their own Large Language Models or bots, said many of his current clients are running for political office.

“Our goal is to put the microphone back in the hand of the voter,” said Sheeks. “We’re giving agencies and political campaigns the ability to have a trained AI employee that can go back and forth and answer questions on police reform or education or tax changes.”

Some in the broader political text messaging industry say generative AI’s ability to answer voter’s questions and gather data about their concerns is going to be revolutionary for campaigns; others say political text messages are a limited — and annoying — tool and using AI won’t improve it. While it’s difficult to ascertain how many campaigns are using generative AI to text voters this election cycle, experts say Republicans have been adapting to AI faster than Democrats.

“My belief is that this is going to make campaigns more interactive, more responsive and more personalized,” said Eric Wilson, a Republican strategist and the director of the Center for Campaign Innovation, a nonprofit that encourages conservative campaigns to adopt new technology. He said that generative AI “helps campaigns do more with less.”

In almost all cases the first text message sent to voters is written and sent by a human, Wilson said. The AI steps in when the recipient engages.