紐時賞析／科技公司力推AI競選產品 多數政治團隊卻不願採用

超過30間科技公司已向政治競選團隊推銷用於11月大選的人工智慧工具，但競選團隊一直持謹慎態度。（紐約時報）

The Year of the AI Election That Wasn't

AI掛帥的競選年？事實並非如此

Matthew Diemer, a Democrat running for election in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, was approached in January with a pitch by artificial intelligence company Civox: AI-backed voice technology that could make tens of thousands of personalized phone calls to voters using Diemer’s talking points and sense of humor.

美國民主黨人迪默爾在俄亥俄州第七國會選區競選，今年1月接到人工智慧公司Civox的推銷：人工智慧支援的語音科技，可以使用迪默爾的論點和幽默感，撥打數萬通個人化電話給選民。

His campaign agreed to try out the technology. But it turned out that the only thing voters hated more than a robocall was an AI-backed one.

他的競選團隊同意嘗試這項科技。但結果是，相較於自動語音電話，選民更討厭人工智慧支援的這類電話。

While Civox’s AI program made almost 1,000 calls to voters in five minutes, nearly all of them hung up in the first few seconds when they heard a voice that described itself as an AI volunteer, Diemer said.

迪默爾說，儘管Civox的人工智慧程式五分鐘內打給近千名選民，但他們聽到自稱是人工智慧志工的聲音時，幾乎所有人都在剛開始幾秒就掛電話。

“People just didn’t want to be on the phone, and they especially didn’t want to be on the phone when they heard they were talking to an AI program,” said the entrepreneur, who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for the same seat he is seeking now. “Maybe people weren’t ready yet for this type of technology.”

這名企業家2022年競選和現在一樣的國會席次，但沒有成功。他說：「人們就是不想通話，他們聽到自己和人工智慧程式交談時，特別不想通話。或許人們還沒準備好接受這種科技。」

This was supposed to be the year of the AI election. Fueled by a proliferation of AI tools such as chatbots and image generators, more than 30 tech companies have offered AI products to national, state and local U.S. political campaigns in recent months. The companies — mostly smaller firms such as BHuman, VoterVoice and Poll the People — make products that reorganize voter rolls and campaign emails, expand robocalls and create AI-generated likenesses of candidates that can meet and greet constituents virtually.

今年本應是人工智慧選舉年。在聊天機器人和影像生成器等人工智慧工具激增的推動下，超過30間科技公司近幾個月已提供人工智慧產品給國家級、州級和地方層級美國政治競選團隊。這些公司大多是BHuman、VoterVoice和Poll the People這類規模較小的公司，他們製造的產品能重組選民名冊和競選電郵、擴大自動語音電話，以及創建人工智慧生成候選人肖像，可和選民以虛擬形式打招呼。

But campaigns are largely not biting — and when they have, the technology has fallen flat. Only a handful of candidates are using AI, and even fewer are willing to admit it, according to interviews with 23 tech companies and seven political campaigns. Three of the companies said campaigns agreed to buy their tech only if they could ensure the public would never find out they had used AI.

但競選團隊大多不願採用，而且即使他們用了，這些科技也未達到預期效果。與23間科技公司和7個政治競選團隊的訪談顯示，僅少數候選人使用人工智慧，願意承認的更少。其中3間公司表示，競選團隊只有在確保公衆不會發現使用人工智慧的狀況下，才願意購買他們的科技。

“Political campaigns have trust issues to begin with,” said Phillip Walzak, a political consultant in New York. “No candidate wants to be accused of posting deepfakes in the election or using A.I. in a way that deceives voters.”

紐約一名政治顧問沃爾札克表示：「政治競選一開始就存在信任議題。沒有候選人希望自己在選舉期間被指控發佈深僞或使用人工智慧欺騙選民。」

Diemer said he didn’t regret experimenting with AI.

迪默爾表示，他不後悔試用人工智慧。

“I love AI and tech and what it could potentially do to make political campaigns more affordable and accessible for everyone,” he said. “I don’t think everyone got what we were trying to do, or gave it a chance to see that maybe, AI was a great tool in reaching voters.”

他說：「我愛人工智慧和科技，以及它有可能讓競選更負擔得起，讓每個人更容易參與。我不認爲每個人都明白我們嘗試做的事，或者給它一個機會，去看看人工智慧或許是觸及選民的好工具。」

文／Sheera Frenkel　譯／羅方妤