How a Congressional Primary Became an A.I. Proxy Battle

"When political candidates rehearse for campaign debates, they commonly cast a surrogate in the role of their rival. Rob Portman, who represented Ohio in the Senate for a dozen years, played Al Gore for George W. Bush, and Barack Obama for both John McCain and Mitt Romney. The thirty-five-year-old New York State assemblyman Alex Bores, a candidate in the pullulating Democratic primary for New York's Twelfth Congressional District, opted instead to enlist a chatbot."

"Bores, however, who has a neatly trimmed beard and wears a navy suit for any and all occasions, comes across as the sort of very good boy who does more homework than is strictly necessary. Just after the new year, I joined him on a road trip to Albany for the opening of the legislative session. Bores takes pride in his functional competence, and upon being told that he would not be the one driving-his chief of staff, Anna Myers, wanted him on the phone to thank donors-he accepted the passenger seat with some reluctance."

"Bores grew up on the Upper East Side; his parents worked in network television, and in his first major media appearance, as a three-year-old, his mother read him "Everyone Poops" on ABC7 Eyewitness News. He traces his political commitments to second grade, when his father brought him to a union picket line, and he carried a sign that read "Disney is mean to my dad.""

Alex Bores, a 35-year-old New York State assemblyman and Democratic primary candidate for New York's Twelfth Congressional District, employed an unconventional debate preparation method by enlisting a chatbot as his rival surrogate rather than following the traditional practice of using political figures. Known for his meticulous attention to detail and functional competence, Bores grew up on the Upper East Side with parents in network television and traces his political interests to childhood experiences, including attending a union picket line in second grade. Before entering public service, he worked in the software industry, including at defense contractor Palantir, where he focused on government efficiency projects related to epidemic preparedness and hospital staffing.

Read at The New Yorker