How Candidates Could Use AI for Good (www.schneier.com)
<p><em>This essay was written with Nathan E. Sanders, and originally appeared in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/31/ai-politics-voters">The Guardian</a>.</em></p>
<p>There are plenty of signs that AI will make all of our experiences of the US midterm elections worse. Voters have <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/08/18/young-adults-in-the-us-are-increasingly-wary-of-ai-concerned-it-will-take-jobs/">anxiety</a> about AI’s impacts on the country. Politicos are using AI deepfakes to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/08/ai-ads-political-campaigns">spread</a> lies. The White House is posting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/29/the-slopaganda-era-10-ai-images-posted-by-the-white-house-and-what-they-teach-us">slopaganda</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, candidates are missing a real opportunity to use AI to make campaigning better. The technology can help candidates listen more deeply to voters’ concerns, engage constituents more inclusively, and formulate policy platforms that are more responsive to our input. There are vanishingly few examples of this in ...</p>
<p>There are plenty of signs that AI will make all of our experiences of the US midterm elections worse. Voters have <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/08/18/young-adults-in-the-us-are-increasingly-wary-of-ai-concerned-it-will-take-jobs/">anxiety</a> about AI’s impacts on the country. Politicos are using AI deepfakes to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/08/ai-ads-political-campaigns">spread</a> lies. The White House is posting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/29/the-slopaganda-era-10-ai-images-posted-by-the-white-house-and-what-they-teach-us">slopaganda</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, candidates are missing a real opportunity to use AI to make campaigning better. The technology can help candidates listen more deeply to voters’ concerns, engage constituents more inclusively, and formulate policy platforms that are more responsive to our input. There are vanishingly few examples of this in ...</p>
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